INTRODUCTORY 

AMERICAN 
HISTORY 

BOURNE AND BENTON 





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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



INTRODUCTORY 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 

HENRY ELDRIDGE BOURNE 

AND 

ELBERT JAY BENTON 

PROFESSORS OF HISTORY IN WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 



D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



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, i 

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Copyright, 191 2, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



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INTRODUCTION 

This volume is the introductory part of a course in American 
history embodying the plan of study recommended by the Com- 
mittee of Eight of the American Historical Association.^ The 
plan calls for a continuous course running through grades six, 
seven, and eight. The events which have taken place within 
the limits of what is now the United States must necessarily 
furnish the most of the content of the lessons. But the Com- 
mittee urge that enough other matter, of an introductory 
character, be included to teach boys and girls of from twelve 
to fourteen years of age that our civilization had its beginnuigs 
far back in the history of the Old World. Such introductory 
study will enable them to think of our country in its true 
historical setting. The Committee recommend that about 
two-thirds of one year's work be devoted to this prehminary 
matter, and that the remainder of the year be given to the 
period of discovery and exploration. 

The plan of the Committee of Eight emphasizes three or 
four lines of development in the world's history leading up to 
American history proper. 

First, there was a movement of conquest or colonization 
by which the ancient civihzed world, originally made up of 
communities like the Greeks and Phoenicians in the Aegean 
and eastern Mediterranean Seas, spread to southern Italy 
and adjacent lands. The Roman conquest of Italy and of 
the barbarian tribes of western Europe expanded the civilized 
world to the shores of the Atlantic. Within this greater 
Roman world new nations grew up. The migration of 
Europeans to the American continent was the final step. 

^The Study of History in Elementary Schools. Scribner's, 1909. 



iv INTRODUCTION 

Second, accompanying the growth of the civihzed world in 
extent was a growth of knowledge of the shape of the earth, or 
of what we call geography. Columbus was a geographer as 
well as the herald of an expanding world. 

A third process was the creation and transmission of all 
that we mean by civilization. Here, as the Committee remark, 
the effort should be to ''show, in a very simple way, the civiUza- 
tion which formed the heritage of those who were to go to 
America, that is, to explain what America started with." 

The Committee also suggest that it is necessary 'Ho associate 
the three or four peoples of Europe which were to have a share 
in American colonization with enough of their characteristic 
incidents to give the child some feeling for the name ' England, ' 
'Spain,' 'Holland,' and 'France.'" 

No attempt is made in this book to give a connected history 
of Greece, Rome, England, or any other country of Europe. 
Such an attempt would be utterly destructive of the plan. 
Only those features of early civihzation and those incidents of 
history have been selected which appear to have a vital relation 
to the subsequent fortunes of mankind in America as well as 
in Europe. They are treated in all cases as introductory. 
Opinions may differ upon the question of what topics best 
illustrate the relation. The Committee leaves a wide margin 
of opportunity for the exercise of judgment in selection. In 
the use of a textbook based on the plan the teacher should 
use the same liberty of selection. For example, we have chosen 
the story of Marathon to illustrate the idea of the heroic 
memories of Greece. Others may prefer Thermopylae, because 
this story seems to possess a simpler dramatic development. 
In the same way teachers may desire to give more emphasis 
to certain phases of ancient or mediaeval civilization or certain 
heroic persons treated very briefly in this book. Exercises 
similar to those inserted at the end of each chapter offer means 
of supplementing work provided in the text. 

The story of American discovery and exploration in the plan 



INTRODUCTION v 

of the Committee of Eight follows the introductory matter 
as a natural culmination. In our textbook we have adhered 
to the same plan of division. The work of the seventh grade 
will, therefore, open with the study of the first permanent 
English settlements. 

The discoveries and explorations are told in more detail than 
most of the earlier incidents, but whatever is referred to is 
treated, we hope, with such simplicity and definiteness of 
statement that it will be comprehensible and instructive to 
pupils of the sixth grade. 

At the close of the book will be found a list of references. 
From this teachers may draw a rich variety of stories and 
descriptions to illustrate any features of the subject which 
especially interest their classes. In the index is given the 
pronunciation of difficult names. 

We wish to express gratitude to those who have aided us 
with wise advice and criticism. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Scattered Children of Europe 1 

II. Our Earliest Teachers 7 

III. How THE Greeks Lived 18 

IV. Greek Emigrants or Colonists 31 

V. New Rivals of the Greeks . 40 

VI. The Mediterranean a Roman Lake 49 

VII. The Ancient World Extended to the Shores of the 

Atlantic 58 

VIII. The Civilization of the Roman World .... 69 

IX. Christianity and the Roman Empire 80 

X. Emigrants a Thousand Years Ago 86 

XL How Englishmen Learned to Govern Themselves . 100 

XII. The Civilization of the Middle Ages 110 

XIII. Traders, Travelers, and Explorers in the Later 

Middle Ages 132 

XIV. The Discovery of a New World 146 

XV. Others Help in the Discovery of the New World . 159 

XVI. Early Spanish Explorers and Conquerors of the 

Mainland 170 

XVII. The Spanish Explorers of North America . . . 185 

XVIII. Rivalry and Strife in Europe 204 

XIX. First French Attempts to Settle America. . . . 216 

XX. The English and the Dutch Triumph Over Spain . 226 

XXI. The English People Attempt to Settle America . 240 

References for Teachers 253 

Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 259 

vii 



INTRODUCTOEY 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER I 
THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE 

The Emigrant and what he brings to America. The 

emigrant who lands at New York, Boston, Philadel- 
phia, or any other seaport, brings with him something 
which we do not |^e. He may have in his hands only 
a small bundle of clothing and enough money to pay 
his railroad fare to his new home, but he is carrying 
another kind of baggage more valuable than bundles 
or boxes or a pocket full of silver or gold. This other 
baggage is the knowledge, the customs, and the mem- 
ories he has brought from the fatherland. 

He has already learned in Europe how to do the work 
at which he hopes to labor in America. In his native 
land he has been taught to obey the laws and to do his 
duty as a citizen. This fits him to share in our self- 
government. He also brings great memories, for he 
likes to think of the brave and noble deeds done by men 
of his race. If he is a religious man, he worships God 
just as his forefathers have for hundreds of years. To 
understand how the emigrant happens to know what 
he does and to be what he is, we must study the history 
of the country from which he comes. 

1 



2 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

All Americans are Emigrants. If this is true of the 
newcomer, it is equally true of the rest of us, for we are 
all emigrants. The Indians are the only native Ameri- 
cans, and when we find out more about them we may 
learn that they, too, are emigrants. If we follow the 
history of our families far enough back, we shall come 
upon the names of our forefathers who sailed from 
Europe. They may have come to America in the early 
days when there were only a few settlements scattered 
along our Atlantic coast, or they may have come since 
the Revolutionary War changed the Enghsh colonies into 
the United States. 

Like the Canadians, the South i#nericans, and the 
Australians, we are simply Europeans who have moved 
away. The story of the Europe in which our fore- 
fathers hved is, therefore, part of our story. In order 
to understand our own history we must know something 
of the history of England, France, Germany, Italy, and 
other European lands. 

What the early Emigrants brought. If we read the 
story of our forefathers before they left Europe, we 
shall find answers to several important questions. Why, 
we ask, did Columbus seek for new lands or for new 
ways to lands already known? How did the people of 
Europe live at the time he discovered America? What 
did they know how to do? Were they skilful in all 
sorts of work, or were they as rude and ignorant as the 
Indians on the western shores of the Atlantic? 

The answers which history will give to these ques- 
tions will say that the first emigrants who landed on our 



THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE 3 

shores brought with them much of the same knowledge 
and many of the same customs and memories which 
emigrants bring nowadays and which we also have. 
It is true that since the time the first settlers came men 
have found out how to make many new things. The 
most important of these are the steam-engine, the elec- 
tric motor, the telegraph, and the telephone. But it is 













A Modern Steamship and an Early Sailing Vessel 

The early emigrants came in small sailing vessels and suffered great hardships 

surprising how many important things, which we still 
use, were made before Columbus saw America. 

For one thing, men knew how to print books. This 
art had been discovered during the boyhood of Colum- 
bus. Another thing, men could make guns, while the 
Indians had only bows and arrows. The ships in which 
Columbus sailed across the ocean seemed very large 
and wonderful to the Indians, who used canoes. The 
ships were steered with the help of a compass, an instru- 
ment which the Indians had never seen. 



4 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Some of the things which the early emigrants knew 
had been known hundreds or thousands of years before. 
One of the oldest was the art of writing. The way to 
write words or sounds was found out so long ago that 
we shall never know the name of the man who first dis- 
covered it. The historians tell us he lived in Egypt, 
which was in northern Africa, exactly where Egypt is 
now. Some men were afraid that the new art might 

Cleopatra 

Egyptian Phonetic Writing 

do more harm than good. The king to whom the 
secret was told thought that the children would be un- 
wiUing to work hard and try to remember because every- 
thing could be written down and they would not need 
to use their memories. The Egyptians at first used 
pictures to put their words upon rocks or paper, and 
even after they made several letters of the alphabet 
their writing seemed Uke a mixture of little pictures 
and queer marks. 

Old and New Inventions. Those who first discover 
how to make things are called inventors, and what they 
make are called inventions. Now if we should write 
out a list of the most useful inventions, we could place 
in one column the inventions which were made before 
the days of Columbus and in another those which have 
been made since. With this list before us we may ask 



THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE 






H O 



7 



AA 

irn 



At 

S6 



A 

E 

P 
R 
5 



Growth of Letters of 
THE Alphabet 



which inventions we could hve without and which we 
could not spare unless we were wilUng to become like the 
savages. We should find that a | 
large number of the inventions 
which we use every day belong 
to the set of things older than 
Columbus. This is another rea- 
son why, if we wish to under- 
stand our ways of living and 
working, we must ask about the 
history of the countries where 
our forefathers lived. It is the 
beginning of our own history. 

A Plan of Study. The discovery of America was 
made in 1492, at the beginning of what we call Modern 
Times. Before Modern Times were the Middle Ages, 
lasting about a thousand years. These began three or 
four hundred years after the time of Christ or what we 
call the beginning of the Christian Era. All the events 
that took place earlier we say happened in Ancient 
Times. Much that we know was learned first by the 
Greeks or Romans who lived in Ancient Times. 

It is in the Middle Ages that we first hear of peoples 
called Enghshmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Dutchmen, 
Itahans, Spaniards, and many others now living in Great 
Britam and on the Continent of Europe. We shall learn 
first of the Greeks and Romans and of what they knew 
and succeeded in doing, and then shall find out how 
these things were learned by the peoples of the Middle 
Ages and what they added to them. This will help us 



6 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

to find out what our forefathers started with when they 
came to hve in America. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What does the emigrant from Europe bring to America besides 
his baggage? 

2. Why are all Americans emigrants? 

3. What did the earhest emigrants from Europe to America bring 
with them? 

4. Which do you think the more useful invention — the telephone 
or the art of writing? Who invented this art? Find Egypt on the 
map. How did Egyptian writing look? 

5. Why was it a help to Columbus that gunpowder and guns were 
invented before he discovered America? 

6. When did the Christian Era begin? What is meant bj^ Ancient 
Times? By the Middle Ages? By Modern Times? In what Times 
was the art of writing invented? In what Times was the compass 
invented? In what Times was the telephone invented? 

EXERCISES 

1 . Collect from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders, 
pictures of ocean steamships. Collect pictures of sailing ships, ships 
used now and those used long ago. 

2. Collect from persons who have recently come to this country 
stories of how they traveled from Europe to America, and from ports 
hke Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to where they now hve. 

3. Let each boy and girl in the schoolroom point out on the map 
the European country from which his parents or his grandparents 
or his forefathers came. 

4. Let each boy and girl make a list of the holidays which his fore- 
fathers had in the "fatherland" or "mother country." Let each 
find out the manner in which the holidays were kept. Let each tell 
the most interesting hero story from among the stories of the mother 
country or fatherland. Let each find out whether the tools used in 
the old home were hke the tools his parents use here. 



CHAPTER II 
OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 

Ancient Cities that still exist. In Ancient Times the 
most important peoples hved on the shores of the 
Mediterranean. The northern shore turns and twists 
around four peninsulas. The first is Spain, which sep- 
arates the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean; 
the second, shaped like a boot, is Italy; and the third, 
the end of which looks Uke a mulberry leaf, is Greece. 
Beyond Greece is Asia Minor, the part of Asia which 
hes between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. 
(See the map on page 33.) 

The Italians now Hve in Italy, but the Romans 
lived there in Ancient Times. The people who hve 
in Greece are called Greeks, just as they were more 
than two thousand years ago. Many of the cities 
that the Greeks and Romans built are still stand- 
ing. Alexandria was founded by the great conqueror 
Alexander. Constantinople used to be the Greek 
city of Byzantium. Another Greek city, Massiha, has 
become the modern French city of Marseilles. Rome 
had the same name in Ancient Times, except that it 
was spelled Roma. The Romans called Paris by the 
name of Lutetia, and London they called Lugdunum. 

Ruins which show how the Ancients lived. In many 
of these cities are ancient buildings or ruins of build- 

7 



8 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

ings, bits of carving, vases, mosaics, sometimes even 
wall paintings, which we may see and from which we 
may learn how the Greeks and Romans lived. Near 
Naples are the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman city suddenly 
destroyed during an eruption of the volcano Vesuvius. 

For hundreds of years the city lay buried under fif- 
teen or twenty feet of ashes. When these were taken 
away, the old streets and the walls of the houses could 
be seen. No roofs were left and the walls in many 
places were only partly standing, but things which in 
other ancient cities had entirely disappeared were kept 
safe in Pompeii under the volcanic ashes. 

The traveler who walks to-day along the ruined 
streets can see how its inhabitants lived two thousand 
years ago. He can visit their public buildings and their 
private houses, can handle their dishes and can look at 
the paintings on their walls or the mosaics in the floors. 
But interesting as Pompeii is, we must not think that 
its ruins teach us more than the ruins of Rome or Athens 
or many other ancient cities. Each has something im- 
portant to tell us of the people who lived long ago. 

Ancient Words still in Use. The ancient Greeks and 
Romans have left us some things more useful than the 
ruins of their buildings. These are the words in our 
language which once were theirs, and which we use with 
slight changes in spelling. Most of our words came in 
the beginning from Germany, where our Enghsh fore- 
fathers lived before they settled in England. To the 
words they took over from Germany they added words 
borrowed from other peoples, just as we do now. We 



OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 9 

have recently borrowed several words from the French, 
such as tonneau and limousine, words used to describe 
parts of an automobile, besides the name automobile 
itself, which is made up of a Latin and a Greek word. 




Ruins of a House at Pompeii 

The houses of the better sort were built with an open court in the center 



In this way, for hundreds of years, words have been 
coming into our language from other languages. Sev- 
eral thousand have come from Latin, the language of 
the Romans; several hundred from Greek, either directly 
or passed on to us by the Romans or the French. The 
word school is Greek, and the word arithmetic was bor- 
rowed from the French, who took it from the Greeks. 
Geography is another word which came, through French 
and Latin, from the Greeks, to whom it meant that which 



10 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

is written about the earth. The word grammar came 
in the same way. The word alphabet is made by join- 
ing together the names of the first two Greek letters, 
alpha and beta. 

Many words about rehgion are borrowed from the 
Greeks, and this is not strange, for the New Testa- 
ment was written in Greek. Some of these are Bible, 
church, bishop, choir, angel, devil, apostle, and martyr. 
The Greeks have handed down to us many words about 
government, including the word itself, which in the 
beginning meant " to steer." Pohtics meant hav- 
ing to do with a polis or city. Several of the words 
most recently made up of Greek words are telegraph, 
telephone, phonograph, and thermometer. 

Many Words borrowed from the Romans. Nearly 
ten times as many of our words are borrowed from the 
Romans as from the Greeks, and it is not strange, because 
at one time the Romans ruled over all the country now 
occupied by the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, 
a part of the Germans, and the Enghsh, so that these 
peoples naturally learned the words used by their 
conquerors and governors. 

Interesting Ancient Stories. In the poems and tales 
which we learn at home or at school are stories which 
Greek and Roman parents and teachers taught their 
children many hundred years ago. We learn them partly 
because they are interesting, and because they please or 
amuse us, and partly because they appear so often in our 
books that it is necessary to know them if we would 
understand our own books and language. Who has not 



OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 



11 



heard of Hercules and his Labors, of the Search for the 
Golden Fleece, the Siege of Troy, or the Wanderings of 
Ulysses? We love modern fairy stories and tales of 
adventure, but they are not more pleasing than these 
ancient stories. 

The Story of the Greeks. Our language and our books 
are full of memories of Greek and Roman deeds of cour- 







The Plain of Marathon 



age. The story of the Greeks comes before the story 
of the Romans, for the Greeks were living in beautiful 
cities, with temples and theaters, while the Romans 
were still an almost unknown people dwelling on the 
hills that border the river Tiber. 

Memories of Greek Courage. The most heroic deeds 
of the Greeks took place in a great war between the Greek 
cities and the kingdom of Persia about five hundred 
years before Christ. In those days there was no kingdom 
called Greece, such as the geographies now describe. 



12 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Instead there were cities, a few of which were ruled by 
kings, others by the citizens themselves. These cities 
banded together when any danger threatened them. 
Sometimes one city turned traitor and helped the enemy 
against the others. The most dangerous enemy the 
Greeks had, until the Romans attacked them, was the 
kingdom of Persia, which stretched from the Aegean 
Sea far into Asia. In the war with the Persians the 
Greeks fought three famous battles, at Marathon, Ther- 
mopylae, and Salamis, the stories of which men have 
always liked to hear and remember. 

Preparing for Marathon, 490 B.C. To the Athenians 
belong the glories of Marathon. They hved where the 
modern city of Athens now stands. The ruins of their 
temples and theaters still attract students and travel- 
ers to Greece. The plain of Marathon lay more than 
twenty miles to the northeast, and the roads to it led 
through mountain passes. When the Athenians heard 
that the hosts of the Great King of Persia were approach- 
ing, they sent a runner, Pheidippides by name, to ask 
aid of Sparta, a city one hundred and forty miles away, 
in the peninsula now called the Morea, where dwelt the 
sturdiest fighters of Greece. This runner reached Sparta 
on the second day, but the Spartans said it would be 
against their rehgious custom to march before the moon 
was full. The Athenians saw that they must meet the 
enemy alone — one small city against a mighty empire. 
They called their ten thousand men together and set out. 
On the way they were joined by a thousand more, the 
whole army of the brave little town of Plataea. 



OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 13 

How the Athenians were Armed. Although the Per- 
sians had six times as many soldiers as the Athenians, 
they were not so well armed for hand to hand fighting. 
Their principal weapon was the bow and arrow, while 
the Greeks used the lance and a short sword. The Greek 
soldier was protected by his bronze helmet, solid across 
the forehead and over the nose; by his breastplate, a 
leathern or linen tunic covered with small metal scales, 




Greek Soldiers in Arms 

From a Greek vase of about the time of the battle of Marathon 

with flaps hanging below his hips; and by greaves or 
pieces of metal in front of his knees and shins. He was 
also protected by a shield, often long enough to reach 
from his face to his knees. According to a strange 
custom the Athenians were led by ten generals, each 
commanding one day in turn. 

The Battle-ground. Marathon was a plain about 
two miles wide, lying between the mountains and the 
sea. From it two roads ran toward Athens, one along 
the shore where the hills almost reached the sea, the 
other up a narrow valley and over the mountains. The 
Athenians were encamped in this valley, where they 



14 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

could attack the Persians if they tried to follow the 
shore road. 

The Persians landed from their ships and filled 
the plain near the shore. They wanted to fight in 
the open plain because they had so many more sol- 
diers than the Athenians and because they meant to 
use their horsemen. For some time the Athenians 
watched the Persians, not knowing what it was best to 
do. Half the generals did not wish to risk a battle, 
but Miltiades was eager to fight, for he feared that delay 
would lead timid citizens or traitors to yield to the 
Persians. He finally gained his wish, and on his day of 
command the battle was ordered. 

The Battle. The Persians by this time had decided 
to sail around to the harbor of Athens and had taken 
their horsemen on board their ships. When they saw 
the Greeks coming they drew up their foot-soldiers 
in deep masses. The Athenians and their comrades — 
the Plataeans — soon began to move forward on the 
run. The Persians thought this madness, because the 
Greeks had no archers or horsemen. But the Greeks 
saw that if they moved forward slowly the Persians 
would have time to shoot arrows at them again and 
again. 

When the Greeks rushed upon the Persians the sol- 
diers at the two ends of the Persian line gave way 
and fled towards the shore. In the center, where the 
best Persian soldiers stood, the Greeks were not at first 
successful, and were forced to retreat. But those who 
had been victorious came to their rescue, attacked the 



OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 



15 



Persians in the rear, and finally drove them off. The 
Persians ran into the sea to reach the ships, and the 
Athenians followed them. Some of the Greeks were so 
eager in the fight that they seized the sides of the ships 
and tried to keep them from being rowed away, but the 
Persians cut at their hands and made them let go. 
The News of the Victory. The Athenians had won a 



7^T/A 







The Straits of Salamis 

Where a great sea-fight between Greeks and Persians took place 



victory of which they were so proud that they meant 
it never should be forgotten. Their city had suddenly 
become great through the courage and self-sacrifice of 
her citizens. One hundred and ninety-two Greeks had 
fallen, and on the battle-field their comrades raised over 
their bodies a mound of earth which still marks their 
tomb. The victors sent the runner Pheidippides to 
bear the news to Athens. Over the hills he ran until 
he reached the market place, and there, with the 
message of triumph on his lips, he fell dead. 



16 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Other Victories of the Greeks. Marathon was only 
the beginning of Greek victories over the Persians, only 
the first struggle in the long wars between Europe and 
Asia. Ten years after Marathon the Spartans won 
everlasting glory by their heroic stand at the Pass of 
Thermopylae — three hundred Greeks against the mighty 
army of the Persian king Xerxes. The barbarian hordes 
passed over their bodies, took the road to Athens, burned 
the city, but were soon beaten in the sea-fight which 
took place on the waters lying between the mainland 
of Athenian territory and the island of Salamis. This 
victory was also due to Athenian courage and leader- 
ship, for the Athenians and their leader, Themistocles, 
were resolved to stay and fight, although the other 
Greeks wanted to sail away. 

Why Marathon is remembered. The victories of 
Marathon and Salamis were great not only because 
small armies of Greeks put to flight the hosts of Persia, 
they were great because they saved the independence of 
Greece. If the Greeks had become the subjects and 
slaves of Persia, they would not have built the wonderful 
buildings, or carved the beautiful statues, or written the 
books which we study and admire. When we think of 
the Greeks as our first teachers we feel as proud of 
their victories as if they were our own victories. 

The Wars of the Greek Cities. The Athenians had 
done the most in winning the victory over the Persians, 
and therefore Athens was for many years the most 
powerful city in Greece. The Spartans were always 
jealous of the Athenians, and in less than a century after 



OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 17 

the victory of Marathon they conquered and humbled 
Athens. The worst faults of the Greeks were such jeal- 
ousies and the desire to lord it over one another. Greek 
history is full of wars of city against city, Sparta against 
Athens, Corinth against Athens, and Thebes against 
Sparta. In these wars many heroic deeds were done, 
of which we like to read, but it is more important for 
us to understand how the Greeks lived. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What ancient cities still exist? Find them on the map on 
page 33. (For each difficult name find the pronunciation in the 
index.) 

2. What things do we find in the ruins of ancient cities which tell 
us how the people lived? 

3. From what country did most of our words come in the begin- 
ning? W^hy are they now called Enghsh? What peoples used the 
word geography before we did? About how many words do we 
get from the Greeks, and how many from the Romans? 

4. Which people became famous earher, the Greeks or the Romans? 
Point out on the map the peninsula where each hved. 

5. Why do we hke to remember the brave deeds of the Greeks? 

6. Find the city of Athens on the map, page 33. Find Sparta. 
Where was Marathon? What city won glory at Marathon? 

7. What were the worst faults of the Greeks? 

EXERCISES 

1. Collect pictures of ruined cities in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, 
from illustrated papers,, magazines, or advertising folders. Collect 
postal cards giving such pictures. 

2. Choose the best one of the Greek stories mentioned on page 11, 
and tell it. 

3. Find out how differently soldiers now are clothed and armed 
from the way the Greek soldiers were. 

4. Find out why a long distance run is now called a ''Marathon." 



CHAPTER III 
. HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 

The Greek Cities. The Greeks lived in cities so much 
of the time that we do not often think of them as ever 
hving in the country. The reason for this was that 
their government and everything else important was 
carried on in the city. The cities were usually sur- 
rounded by high, thick stone walls, which made them 
safe from sudden attack. Within or beside the city there 
was often a lofty hill, which we should call a fort or 
citadel, but which they called the upper city or acrop- 
olis. There the people hved at first when they were 
few in number, and thither they fled if the walls of their 
city were broken down by enemies. 

In Athens such a hill rose two hundred feet above the 
plain. Its top was a thousand feet long, and all the 
sides except one were steep cliffs. On it the Athenians 
built their most beautiful temples. 

Private Houses. Unlike people nowadays the Greeks 
did not spend much money on their dwelling-houses. 
To us these houses would seem small, badly ventilated, 
and very uncomfortable. But what their houses lacked 
was more than made up by the beauty and' splendor of 
the public buildings, halls, theaters, porticoes, and 
especially the temples. 

18 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 



19 



Temples. The temples were not intended to hold 
hundreds of worshipers hke the large churches of Europe 
and America to-day. Religious ceremonies v/ere most 
often carried on in the open air. The Parthenon, the 
most famous temple of Ancient Times, was small. Its 
principal room measured less than one hundred feet in 




The Acropolis at Athens as it is To-day 



length. Part of this room was used for an altar and for 
the ivory and gold statue of the goddess Athena. 

The Parthenon. In a picture of the Parthenon, or 
of a similar temple, we notice the columns in front and 
along the sides. The Parthenon had eight at each end 
and seventeen on each side. They were thirty-four feet 
high. A few feet within the columns on the sides was the 
wall of the temple. Before the vestibule and entrances 
at the front and at the rear stood six more columns. 
The beauty of the marble from which stones and columns 



20 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



were cut might have seemed enough, but the builders 
carved groups of figures in the three-cornered space 
(called the pediment) in front between the roof and the 
stones resting upon the columns. The upper rows of 
stones beneath the roof and above the columns were 
also carved, and continuous carvings (called a frieze) ran 







The Top of the Acropolis 2000 Years Ago 

The Parthenon is the large temple on the right 



around the top of the temple wall on the outside. The 
temple was not left a glistening white, but parts of it 
were painted in blue, or red, or gilt, or orange. 

Other Greek Temples. This beautiful temple is now 
partly ruined. Ruins of other temples are on the Acrop- 
olis, and one better preserved, called the Theseum, stands 
on a lower hill. There are also similar ruins in many 
places along the shores of the Mediterranean. The most 
interesting are at Psestum in Italy (see the picture 
on page 35), and at Girgenti in Sicily. Long before 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 



21 



these temples were ruined they had taught the Romans 
how to construct one of the most beautiful kinds of 
buildings, and this the Romans later taught the peoples 
of western Europe. 

Greek Methods of Building still used. If we look at 
our large buildings, we shall see much to remind us 
of the Greek buildings. Sometimes the exact form of 




Doric Ionic Corinthian 

Greek Orders of Architecture 

the Greek building is imitated; sometimes this form is 
changed as the Romans changed it, or as it was changed 
by builders who lived after the time of the Romans. 
If the model of the whole building is not used, there 
are similar pillars, or gables, or the sculpture in the 
pediment and the frieze is imitated. The Greeks had 
three kinds of pillars, named Doric, Ionic, and Corin- 
thian. The Doric is simple and sohd, the Ionic shows in 
its capital, or top, delicate and beautiful curves, while 



22 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



the Corinthian is adorned with leaves springing grace- 
fully from the top of the pillar. 

Theaters. The first Greek theater was only a smooth 
open space near a hillside, with a tent, called a skene, 
or scene, in which the actors dressed. Later an amphi- 
theater of stone seats was constructed on the hillside, 




Ruins of the Greek Theater at Epidaurus 

and across the open end was placed the scene, which 
had been changed into a stone building. On its front 
sometimes a house or a palace was painted, just as nowa- 
days theaters are furnished with painted scenery. In 
these open-air theaters thousands of people gathered. 
Plays were generally given as a part of religious festi- 
vals, and there were contests between writers to see which 
could produce the best play. Sometimes the plays fol- 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 



23 



lowed one another for three days from morning until 
night. Many of them are so interesting that people 
still read them, after twenty-five hundred years. The 
Romans studied them, and so do modern men who are 
preparing themselves to wTite plays. 

The Stadium. A building which somewhat resembled 
the theater was the stadium, where races were run. 




The Modern Stadium at Athens 



The difference was that it was oblong instead of half 
round. The most famous stadium, at Olympia, was 
seven hundred and two feet long, with raised seats on 
both sides and around one end of the running track. 
The other end was open. About fifty thousand persons 
used to gather there to watch the races. 

Porticoes. There were other buildings, some for 
meeting places, some for gymnasiums, and still others 
called porticoes, where the judges held court or the 



24 



INTRODUCTORY. AMERICAN HISTORY 



city officers carried on their business. The porticoes 
were simply rows of columns, roofed over, with occa- 
sionally a second story. As they stretched along the 
sides of a square or market place they added much to 
the beauty of a city. 

Greek Sculpture. We know that the Greeks were 
skilful sculptors because from the ruins of their cities 

have been dug wonderful mar- 
ble and bronze statues which 
are now preserved in the great 
museums of the world, in Paris, 
London, Berlin, and Rome, and 
here in America, in New York 
and Boston. Museums which 
cannot have the original statues 
usually contain copies or casts 
of them in plaster. The statues 
are generally marred and 
broken, but enough . remains to 
show us the wonderful beauty 
of the artist's work. Among 
the most famous are the Venus 
of Melos (or ''de Milo"), which 
stands in a special room in a 
museum called the Louvre in 
Paris ; the Hermes in the museum of Olympia in Greece ; 
and the figures from the Parthenon in the British 
Museum in London. 

Artists nowadays, like the Roman artists long ago, 
study the Greek statues and the Greek sculpture, in 




The Discus-thrower 

(DiSCOBOLOS) 

An ancient Greek statue now in the 
Vatican 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 



25 



order that they may learn how such beautiful things can 
be made. They do not hope to excel the Greeks, but* 
are content to remain their pupils. 

Painting and Pottery. The Greeks were also paint- 
ers, makers of pottery, and workers in gold and silver. 
Many pieces of their workmanship have been discov- 
ered by those who have dug in the ruins of ancient 
buildings and tombs. 

What the Boys were taught. The Greek boys were 
not very good at arithmetic, and even grown men used 
counting boards or their fingers to 
help them in reckoning. In learn- 
ing to write they smeared a thin 
layer of wax over a board and 
marked on that. There was a 
kind of paper called papyrus, 
made from a reed which grew 
mostly in Egypt, but this was 
expensive. Rolls were made of 
sheets of it pasted together, and 
these were their books. One of 
the books the boys studied much 
was the poems of Homer — the 
Ihad and the Odyssey — which 
tell about the siege of Troy and 
the wanderings of Ulysses. Boys often learned these long 
poems by heart. They also stored away in their mem- 
ories the sayings of other poets and wise men, so that they 
could generally know what to think, having with them so 
many good and wise thoughts put in such excellent words. 



</^iO I S A ^ O I 

-'A ^ I SKA/n^N-i or 

£"V(?D N A hi qma > 





A Greek Book 

The upper picture shows tho 
book open 



26 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Games and Exercises for Boys. It is not surprising 
that Greek boys knew how to play, but it is surprising 
that they played many of the games which boys play 
now, such as hide-and-seek, tug of war, ducks and drakes, 
and blind man's buff. They even '' pitched pennies." 
In school the boys were taught not only to read and 
write, but to be skilful athletes, and to play on the lyre, 
accompanying this with singing. The gymnasium was 
often an open space near a stream into which they could 
plunge after their exercises were over. They were taught 
to box, to wi'estle, to throw the discus, and to hurl the 
spear. Military training was important for them, since 
all might be called to fight for the safety of their city. 

The Olympic Games. Boys and young men were 
trained as runners, wrestlers, boxers, and discus throwers, 
not only because they enjoyed these exercises and the 
Greeks thought them an important part of education, 
but also that they might bring back honors and prizes 
to their city from the great games which all the Greeks 
held every few years. The most famous of these games 
were held at Olympia. There the Greeks went from all 
parts of the country, carrying their tents and cooking 
utensils with them, because there were not enough houses 
iri Olympia to hold so many people. Wars even were 
stopped for a time in order that the games might not 
be postponed. 

The Rewards of the Victors. The principal contest 
was a dash for two hundred yards, although there were 
longer races and many other kinds of contests. Unfor- 
tunately the Greeks liked to see the most brutal sort of 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 27 

boxing, in which the boxer's hands and arms were cov- 
ered with heavy strips of leather stiffened with pieces 
of iron or lead. For the games men trained ten months, 
part of the time at Olympia. The prize was a crown of 
wild olive, and the winner returned in triumph to his 
city, where poets sang his praises, a special seat at pub- 
lic games was reserved for him, and often artists were 
employed to make a bronze statue of him to be set up in 
Olympia or in his own city. 




Greek Games — Running 

From an antique vase 

The Government of Athens. The citizen of Athens, 
and of other Greek cities, had more to do with his govern- 
ment than do most Americans with theirs. As nearly 
all w^ork was done by slaves, he had plenty of time to 
attend meetings. All the citizens could attend the great 
assembly, or ecclesia, where six thousand at least must 
be present before anything could be decided. By this 
assembly foreigners might be admitted to citizenship or 
citizens might be expelled, or ostracized, from Athens 
as hurtful to its welfare. 



28 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 




EAO ^ cN^C ' 8 Ol/F I KA I TO I i^L 
7'^^0] aTai^ / -^.f^PP YtaNEYCHEok^ 

r I ||IEPEA'ir€<AOENAA^TE -rt/.^^/' 
i ''- E ^-;^ P E N1 'r;-M" o n t a '^ .p a ^ /a /^: 

r 

Alio 

A I f K '•^ /^ A K P ^T -^ '- I T r 
MO:^MHNO^,TM I ' f 
">T H^ tJ I K r. I 

A Decree of the Council — about 450 b.c. 




rPAAV^' f 'A:^ EMTH !CTH 



There was a smaller council of five hundred which de- 
cided less important questions without laying them 
before the general assembly. This body was chosen by 
lot just as our juries are, but members of the council 

^..^— -S2a___^-^ - whose term had 
.^sjp -^---'^-^-^^^zr^^ A ended had a right 

to object to any 
new member as 
an unworthy citi- 
zen. A tenth of 
the council ruled 
for a tenth of the 
year, and they 
chose their presi- 
dent by lot every 
day, so that any worthy man at Athens had a chance 
to be president for a day and a night. 

Many citizens also served in the courts, for there were 
six thousand judges, and in deciding important cases as 
many as a thousand and one, or even fifteen hundred and 
one, took part. Before such large courts and assemblies 
it was necessary to be a good speaker to be able to win 
a case or persuade the citizens. Some of the greatest 
orators of the world were Athenians, the best known 
being Demosthenes. 

Socrates. The Athenians were not always just, 
although so many of them acted as judges. One court, 
composed of five hundred and one judges, condemned 
to death Socrates, the wisest man of the Greeks and one 
of the wisest in the world. He did not make speeches, 



HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 



29 



or write books, or teach in school. He went about, in 
the market place, at the gymnasium, and on the streets, 
asking men, young and old, questions about what inter- 
ested him most, that is, WTiat is the true way to live? 
If people did not give him an answer which seemed 
good, he asked more ques- 
tions, until sometimes they 
went away angry. Many of 
them thought because he 
asked questions about every- 
thing that he did not be- 
lieve in anything, not even in 
the religion of his city. 

The Death of Socrates, 
399 B.C. After a while the 
enemies of Socrates accused 
him of being a wicked man 
who persuaded young men to 
be wicked. He was tried by 
an Athenian court, which made 
the terrible blunder of finding 
him guilty and condemning him to death. According to 
the Athenian custom he was obhged to drink a cup of 
poisonous hemlock. This he did, after talking to his 
friends cheerily about how a good man should live. As 
he wrote no books we have learned about him from his 
friends. The most famous of these was Plato, who is 
also counted among the wisest men that ever lived. The 
story of the lives of these men is another gift which the 
Greeks made to all who were to live after them, and it 




Socrates 

After the marble bust in the 
Vatican 



30 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

is quite as valuable as are the ways of building, artistic 
skill, or great poems and plays. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why do we wish to know how the Greeks hved? 

2. What was an Acropolis? How does the Acropolis at Athens 
look? 

3. On the picture of the Parthenon point out the pediment. Show 
where the frieze was placed. Find on a map (page 33) Paestum, 

4. What did the Greeks first mean by a scene? Why do we still 
study Greek plays? What is left of the Greek theaters? 

5. What was a stadium, a portico, a gymnasium? Do we have 
such buildings? 

. 6. How do we know that the Greeks made beautiful statues? 

7. What games for Greek boys were like our games? Tell about 
the great public games of the Greeks. 

8. How were the Greek rolls or books made? 

9. Tell the story of Socrates. 

EXERCISES 

1. Are there any buildings in your town which are like Greek 
buildings? 

2. Find in your town Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. 

3. Get from a wall-paper dealer a sample of a frieze for a papered 
room. 

4. What is the difference between the government of Athens and 
the government of your town? 

5. What is the difference between the courts at Athens and the 
courts in your town? 

6. Are Olympic games held now? Where? 

7. Which prizes would you prefer, the prizes given to winners at 
Greek games or the prizes given to winners in our athletic games? 



CHAPTER IV 
GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 

When the Atlantic was unknown. One of the most 
important things done by the men of Ancient Times 
was to explore the coasts and lands of Europe and to 
make settlements wherever they went. At first they 



EUROPE 




IN/ Ro'm,'{\\ r;- 



:\W 




Map of the World as described by the Greek Historian 
Herodotus 

knew little of the western and northern parts of Europe. 
Herodotus, a Greek whom we call the ''Father of His- 
tory," and who was a great traveler, said, ''Though I 
have taken vast pains, I have never been able to get an 
assurance from any eye-witness that there is any sea 
on the further side of Europe." By the "further side" 

31 



32 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

he meant ^'western," and his remark shows that he did 
not know of the Atlantic Ocean. He understood that 
tin and amber came from the ''Tin Islands," which he 
called the ''ends of the earth." As tin came from Eng- 
land, it is plain that he had heard a little of that island. 

Greek Emigrants. Long before Athens became a 
great and beautiful city the Greeks had begun to make 
settlements on distant shores. Those who lived on the 
western coast of Asia Minor, as well as those who lived 
where the kingdom of Greece is now, sent out colonists 
or emigrants. The Greek colonies were very important, 
because by them the ancient civihzed world was made 
larger, just as by the settlement of America the modern 
world was doubled in size. The colonists sailed away 
from home for the same reasons which led our fore- 
fathers to leave England and Europe for America. They 
either hoped to find it easier in a new land to make a 
living and obtain property, or they did not like the way 
their city was ruled, and being unable to change this, 
resolved to build elsewhere a city which they could 
manage as they pleased. 

How they located a New City. There were several 
different lands to which they could go, just as the Euro- 
pean of to-day may sail for the United States or South 
America or AustraUa. They could attempt to settle 
on the shores of the Black Sea, or cross over to northern 
Africa, or try to reach Italy and the more distant coasts 
of what are now France and Spain. In order to choose 
wisely, they generally asked the advice of the priests of 
their god Apollo at his temple at Delphi. These priests 



34 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

knew more about good places for settlements than most 
other persons, because travelers from everywhere came 
to Delphi and the priests were wise enough to inquire 
about all parts of the world. 

The story is told that one group of emigrants was 
advised to locate their new colony opposite the ''city of 
the blind." They discovered that these words meant 
that an earlier band of emigrants had passed by the 
wonderful harbor of the present city of Constantinople 
and had settled instead on the other shore of the Bos- 
phorus. Taught by the oracle they chose the better 
place and began to build the city of Byzantium, which 
later became Constantinople. 

Mother and Daughter Cities. Solemn ceremonies 
took place when colonists departed. They carried with 
them fire from the hearth of the mother city in order to 
light a similar fire on their new hearth, for every city 
had its hearthstone and on it a fire that was never 
quenched. The ties between the mother and the daughter 
city were close, and the enemies of one were the enemies 
of the other. He who wished to visit the colony usually 
went to the mother city to find a ship bound thither. 

Where the Settlements were made. When the Greek 
sailors first entered the Black Sea, they thought it a 
boundless ocean, and called it the Pontus, a word which 
means ''The Main." Until that time they had been 
accustomed t6 sail only from island to island in the 
Aegean Sea. After a while they made settlements all 
around the shores of the Black Sea, and in later times 
Athens drew from this region her supply of grain. Still 



GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 



35 



more important settlements were made in Sicily and 
southern Italy, for it was through these settlements 
that some of the things the Greeks knew, like the art of 
writing, were taught to the Italian tribes and to the 
Romans. 

Dangers of the Voyage. At first Greek sailors feared 
the dangers of the western Mediterranean as much as 
those of the Black Sea. They imagined that the huge, 
misshapen, and dreadful monsters Scylla and Charybdis 




Greek Ruins at Paestum in Italy 



lurked in the Straits of Messina waiting to seize and 
swallow the unlucky passer-by. On the slopes of Mount 
Aetna dwelt, they thought, hideous, one-eyed giants, the 
Cyclops, who fed their fierce appetites with the quiver- 
ing flesh of many captives. 

Greeks in the West. The earliest settlement of the 
Greeks in Italy was at Cumae, on a headland at the 
entrance of the Bay of Naples. Later these colonists 
entered the bay and founded the ''new city," or Neap- 
olis, which we call Naples. Finally there were so many 
Greek cities in southern Italy that it was named ''Great 



36 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



Greece." The Greeks also made settlements in what 
is now southern France and eastern Spain. The prin- 
cipal one was Massilia, or Marseilles. Through the 
traders of this city the ancient world obtained a 
supply of tin from Britain, a country which is now 
called England. 

Greek Colonies as Centers of Civilization. The Greeks 
in these colonies traded with the natives whose villages 
were near by, and many of the natives learned to live 




A Greek Trireme 

like the Greeks. In this way the Greeks became teachers 
of civilization, and the Greek world, which at first was 
made up of cities on the shores of the Aegean Sea, was 
spread from place to place along the coasts of the Medi- 
terranean Sea. 

Greek Ships. The ships of the Greeks were very 
different from modern vessels. Of course they were not 
driven by steam, nor did they rely as much on sails as 
modern sailing ships do. They had sails, but were driven 
forward mostly by their oars. The trireme, or ordinary 
war-ship, had its oars arranged in three banks, fifty men 
rowing at once. After these had rowed several hours, 
or a ''watch/' another fifty took their places, and finally 



GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 



37 




a third fifty, so that the ships could be rowed at high 
speed all the time. With the aid of its two sails a 
trireme is said to have gone one hundred and fifty miles 
in a day and a night. These boats 
were about one hundred and twenty 
feet long and fifteen feet wdde. 
They could be rowed in shallow 
water, but were not high enough to 
ride heavy seas safely. They had a 
sharp beak, which, driven against 
an enemy's ship, would break in its 
sides. The Greek grain ships and 
freight boats were heavier and more 
capable of enduring rough weather. 
Alexander the Great, King of 
Macedon from 336 to 323 B.C. 

Greek ways of living were also carried eastward as well 
as westward. The enlargement of the Greek world in 
this direction was due to Alexander the Great, the most 
skilful soldier and the ablest leader of men among all 
the Greeks. Alexander w^as king of Macedon, and like 
the earlier Greeks he regarded the Persians as his ene- 
mies, and made war upon them. After conquering the 
Persians he marched across western Asia until he had 
reached the Indus River in India, He was a builder of 
cities as well as a conqueror. He founded seventy cities, 
and sixteen of them were named for him. The most 
important was the Alexandria which is still the chief sea- 
port of Egypt. Greek became the language commonly 
spoken throughout the lands near the eastern Mediter- 



Alexander the Great 

After the bust in the Capi- 
toline Museum, Rome 



38 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

ranean. This is the reason why in later times the New 
Testament was written in Greek. 

Alexandria. Of this Greek world Athens ceased to 
be the center and Alexandria took its place. At Alex- 
andria there was a great library which contained over 
five hundred thousand volumes or rolls. There also 
was the museum or university, in which many learned 
men were at work. The best known of these men was 
Euclid, who perfected the mathematics which we call 
geometry, and Ptolemy, whose ideas about geography 
and the shape and size of the globe Columbus carefully 
studied before he set out on his great voyage. Alex- 
andria was also a center of trade and commerce. From 
Alexandria, because its ships were the first foreign ships 
to be admitted to a Roman port, the Romans gained 
their liking for many of the beautiful things which the 
Greeks made. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why were the Greek colonies irjaportant? Why did the Greeks 
emigrate to the colonies? '- '^^^ 

2. Point out on the map, page 33, the lands to which they might 
go. Name several cities which they built. 

3. What were the ties between the daughter and the mother city? 

4. Why was a part of southern Italy called Great Greece? 

5. Describe a Greek trireme and the way it was managed. 

6. Of what country was Alexander the Great king? When did he 
reign? How far east did he march? What did he do besides win- 
ning victories? 

7. Why was the city of Alexandria famous in Ancient Times? 

8. Of what help was Ptolemy to Columbus? 



GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 39 

EXERCISES 

1. Find out the colonies we have. For what purpose do Americans 
go to these colonies? Is it as hard to reach them as it was for the 
Greeks to reach their colonies? 

2. What country now has the most colonies? 

3. Learn and tell the story of Ulysses and the Cyclops. 

4. Find out what is meant at Constantinople by "the Golden 
Horn"? Who now live at Constantinople, at Naples, at Marseilles? 

5. Collect pictures of these cities. 

REVIEW 

(Chapters II, III, and IV) 

Ten things we owe to the Greeks : 

1. Many useful words. 

2. Many interesting tales. 

3. Many examples of heroism. 

4. Knowledge of how to construct beautiful buildings. 

5. How to carve beautiful statues, reliefs, and friezes. 

6. How to write great plays. 

7. How to speak before large audiences. 

8. Wise sayings of men like Socrates and Plato. 

9. Knowledge of geography and mathematics. 

10. Their work as colonists in teaching other peoples to live, and 
think and act as they did. 

Two important dates: 

Battle of Marathon, 490 b.c. 

Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C. 



CHAPTER V 
NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 

The Greek Colonies and the Carthaginians. The 
Greek colonies were sometimes in danger of being at- 
tacked by the native tribes whose lands they had seized 
or by the wilder tribes that dwelt further from the coast. 
In Sicily their most dangerous neighbors were the Car- 
thaginians at the western end of the island. The chief 
town of these people was Carthage, situated opposite 
Sicily in northern Africa in what is now Tunis. The 
Carthaginians were emigrants from Tyre and other 
cities of Phoenicia on the eastern shore of the Mediter- 
ranean, and because of their many ships held control 
of a large part of the western Mediterranean. They had 
colonies even in Spain, where in very early times Phoeni- 
cian traders had gone to obtain gold and silver. 

The Greeks and the Romans. In Italy the most 
dangerous neighbors of the Greek colonists were the 
Romans, who lived half-way up the western side of the 
peninsula along the river Tiber. The history of the Ro- 
mans, like the history of the Greeks, is full of interest- 
ing and wonderful tales. Some of them are legends, 
such as every people likes to tell about its early his- 
tory. They relate how the city was founded by two 
brothers, Romulus and Remus; how Horatius defended 

40 



RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 



41 



the bridge across the Tiber against the hosts of the 
exiled Tarquin king; how the farmer Cincinnatus, hav- 
ing been made leader or dictator, in sixteen days drove 
off the neighboring tribes 
which were attacking the 
Romans and then went 
back to his plough. 

The Gauls bum Rome, 
390 B.C. The Romans 
told stories of their de- 
feats as well as of their 
victories. One of these 
tells how hosts of Gauls, 
a people of the same race 
as the forefathers of the 
French, streamed south- 
w^ard from the valley of 
the Po. The Romans 
were alarmed by such 
tall men, with fierce eyes, 
and fair, flowing hair, 

w^hose swords crashed through the frail Roman helmets. 
They sent a large army to stop the invaders, but in the 
battle, which was fought only twelve miles from Rome, 
this army was destroyed. 

The few defenders that were left withdrew to the Cap- 
itoline, the steepest of the hills over which the city had 
spread. Some of the older senators and several priests 
scorned to seek a refuge from the fury of the barbarians, 
and took their seats quietly in ivory chairs in the market 




Cliff of the Capitoline Hill 



42 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



place or Forum at the foot of the Capitohne hill. The 
Gauls at first gazed in wonder at the strange sight of 
the motionless figures. When one of them attempted 
to stroke the white beard of a senator, the senator struck 
him with his staff; then the Gauls fell upon senators and 
priests and slew them. 




The Region of the Caudine Forks 

The sides of the Capitoline hill were so steep that for 
a long time the Gauls were baffled in their attempts to 
seize it. At last they discovered a path, and one dark 
night were on the point of scaling the height when some 
geese, sacred to the goddess Juno, cackled and flapped 
their wings until the garrison was aroused and the Gauls 
hurled headlong down the precipice. The garrison was 
saved, but the city was burned. This happened in Rome 
just one hundred years after the battle of Marathon in 
Greece. 

The Caudine Forks. Another adventure did not have 



RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 



43 



so happy an ending. The Romans were at war with 
the Samnites, a tribe hving on the slopes of the Apen- 
nines, who were continually attacking the Greek cities 
on the coast. The war was caused by the attempt of 
the Romans to protect one of the Greek cities. The 




ITALY 



BEFORE THE (iROWTH 
?>\ OK THE 



KOMAN POWER 



Roman generals, with a large army, in making their way 
into the Samnite country attempted to march through 
a narrow gorge which broadened out into a plain and then 
was closed again at the farther end by another gorge. 
When they reached this second gorge they found the 
road blocked by fallen trees and heaps of stones. They 



44 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAJST HISTORY 

also saw Samnites on the heights above them. In alarm 
they hastened to retrace their steps, only to find the 
other entrance closed in the same way. After vain at- 
tempts to force a passage or to scale the surrounding 
heights they were obliged to surrender. 

The Samnites compelled the Roman army, both gen- 
erals and soldiers, each clad in a single garment, to pass 
" under the yoke " made of two spears set upright with 
one laid across, while they stood by and jeered. If any 
Roman looked angry or sullen at his disgrace, they struck 
or even killed him. This was called the disaster of the 
Caudine Forks, from the pass where the Romans were 
caught. 

The Romans and the Greek Cities. Not many years 
after this the Romans quarreled with the Greek cities 
of southern Italy. The Greeks of Tarentum, situated 
where Taranto is now, called to their aid Pyrrhus, who 
ruled a part of Alexander's old kingdom. Pyrrhus was a 
skilful general, and he had with him, besides his foot-sol- 
diers and horsemen, many trained elephants. A charge 
of these elephants was too much for the Romans, who 
were already hard pressed by the long spears of the sol- 
diers of Pyrrhus. But the Romans were ready for an- 
other battle, and in this they fought so stubbornly and 
killed so many of the Greek soldiers that Pyrrhus cried 
out, '^ Another victory like this and we are ruined." In a 
third battle, which took place 275 B.C., he was defeated, 
and returned to Greece, leaving the Romans masters of 
the Greek cities in Italy. 

The Romans Conquerors of Italy. By this time there 



RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 



45 



were few tribes south of the river Po which did not own 
the Romans as their masters. All Italy was united 
under their rule. This was the first step in the conquest 
of the world that lay about the Mediterranean Sea and 
in the extension of that ancient world 
to the shores of the Atlantic and to 
England. Before we read the story 
of the other conquests we must inquire 
who the Roman people were and how 
they lived. 

How the Romans lived. In early 
times most of the Romans were farmers 
or cattle raisers. A man's wealth was 
reckoned according to the number of 
cattle he oWned. Their manner of hv- 
ing was simple and frugal. Like the 
Greek, the Roman had his games. He 
enjoyed chariot-races, but used slaves 
or freedmen as drivers. He also went 
to the theater, although he thought it 
unworthy of a Roman to be an actor. 
Such an occupation was for foreigners 
or slaves. 

Roman Boys at School. The boys at school did not 
learn poems, as did the Greek boys, but studied the first 
set of laws made by the Romans, called the Twelve 
Tables. This they read, copied, and learned by heart. 
Their interest in laws was the first sign that they were 
to become the world's greatest lawmakers. 

Roman Women. In their respect for women the 




A Roman wearing 
A Toga 



46 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Romans were superior to the Greeks. The Roman 
mother did not remain in the women's apartments of 
the house, as she was expected to do at Athens, but was 
her husband's companion, received his guests, directed 
her household, and went in and out as she chose. 

Patricians and Plebeians. The men of the families 
which first ruled Rome were called patricians or nobles, 
while the rest were plebeians or common people. There 
were also many slaves, but they had no rights. At first 
only the patricians knew exactly what the laws were, 
because the laws were not written in a book. When 
disputes arose between patricians and plebeians about 
property, the plebeians believed the patricians changed 
the laws in order to gain an advantage over their poorer 
neighbors. 

Thd story is told that twice the plebeians withdrew 
from the city and refused to return until their wrongs 
were removed. Then they compelled the nobles to draw 
up the laws in a roll called the Twelve Tables. At this 
time messengers were sent to Athens to examine the 
laws of the Greeks. The richer plebeians were also grad- 
ually admitted to all the offices of the Roman republic, 
and so became nobles themselves. 

Government at Rome. The Romans had once been 
ruled by kings, but now their chief officers were consuls. 
Two consuls were chosen each year because the Romans 
feared that a single consul might make himself a king, 
or, at least, gain too much power. The real rulers of 
Rome, however, were the senators, the men who had 
held the prominent offices. There were assemblies of the 



RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 



47 



people, but these generally did what the senators or other 
officers told them to do. 

Among the interesting officers of Rome was the cen- 
sor, who drew up a list or census of the 
citizens and of their property. Another 
officer was the tribune, chosen in the be- 
ginning by the plebeians to protect them 
against the patricians. » The tribune was 
not at first a member of the senate, but 
he was given a seat outside the door, and 
if a law was proposed that would injure 
the plebeians, he cried out, ''Veto," which 
means '' I forbid," and the law had to be 
dropped. This is the origin of our word 
'' veto." 

How the Romans treated the Italians. 
The Romans were wise in their deaUngs 
with the cities or tribes which they con- 
quered. They not only sent out colonies 
of their fellow-citizens to occupy a part of 
the lands they had seized, but they also 
gave the conquered peoples a share in 
their government, and in some cases al- 
lowed them to act as citizens of Rome. 
These new Roman citizens helped the 
older Romans in their wars with other 
tribes. In this way Roman towns grad- 
ually spread over Italy. 



A Roman Mili- 
tary Standard 



48 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was the name of the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks 
in Sicily? Find Carthage on the map, page 43. Where did the 
Carthaginians come from originally? Find Phoenicia on the map, 
page 33. 

2. Who were the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Italy? 
Find the Tiber and Rome on the map, page 43. 

3. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. How long 
was this after the battle of Marathon? How long after the death of 
Socrates? How long before Alexander became king of Macedon? 

4. Find the land of the Samnites on the map, page 43. Tell the 
story of the Caudine Forks. 

5. What Greek king did the people of Tarentum call to Italy to 
help them against the Romans? What did he say after his first battle 
with the Romans? 

6. After the defeat of Pyrrhus how much of Italy owned the Romans 
as masters? How did the Romans treat the Italians? 

7. Explain how the early Roman ways of living differed from the 
ways of the Greeks. 

8. How differently did the Romans and the Greeks govern them- 
selves? 

EXERCISES 

1. Read the story of Horatius in Macaulay's ''Lays of Ancient 
Rome." 

2. Collect pictures of Rome and Italy. 

3. Is there a modern city of Carthage? What country rules over 
Tunis? Are there now any Phoenicians? 

4. Read the description of Tyre in the Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 3-25, 
and tell what is said there about the riches of the Tyrians. Find 
out who destroyed Tyre. 




An Early Roman Coin 



CHAPTER VI 
THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 

Rome in Peril. The conquest of Italy by the Romans 
took about two hundred and fifty years. The conquest 
of the peoples living in the other lands on the shores of 
the Mediterranean took nearly as long again. Only 
twice in these four or five hundred years was Rome in 
serious danger of destruction. Once it was by the Gauls, 
as we have read, who captured all the city except the 
citadel. The second time it was by the Carthaginians, 
who lived on the northern coast of Africa. The Romans 
were finally victorious over all their enemies because they 
were patient and courageous in misfortune and refused 
to believe that they could be conquered. 

Cause of War with Carthage. The Carthaginians were 
angry at the way the Romans treated them. They 
watched with alarm the steady growth of the Roman 
power, and feared that the Romans, if masters of Ital}^, 
would attack their trade with the cities of the western 
Mediterranean. A quarrel broke out over a city in 
Sicily. At first the Carthaginians seemed to have the 
best of it, because they had a strong war fleet while the 
Romans had only a few small vessels. But the Romans 
hurriedly built ships and placed upon each a kind of 
drawbridge, fitted with great hooks called grappling-irons. 

49 



50 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

These they let down upon the enemy's decks as soon as 
the ships came close enough, and over these drawbridges 
the Roman soldiers rushed and captured the Cartha- 
ginian ships. 

When the Carthaginians asked for peace, the Romans 
demanded a great sum of money and a promise that the 
Carthaginians would leave the cities in Sicily which they 
occupied. Soon afterward the Romans took advantage 
of a mutiny in the Carthaginian army to demand more 
money and to seize Sardinia and Corsica. No wonder 
the Carthaginians were angry. The result was a new 
and more terrible war. 

Hannibal. The Carthaginians in the new war were 
led by Hannibal, who understood how to fight battles 
better than any of the generals whom the Romans sent 
against him. The story is told that when he was a boy 
his father made him promise, at the altar of his city's 
gods, undying hatred to Rome. Even the Romans 
thought him a wonderful man. Their historians said 
that toil did not wear out his body or exhaust his energy. 
Cold or heat were alike to him. He never ate or drank 
more than he needed. He slept when he had time, 
whether it was day or night, wrapping himself in a mil- 
itary cloak and lying on the ground in the midst of his 
soldiers. He did not dress better than the other officers, 
but his weapons and his horses were the best in the army. 

War carried into Italy, 218 B.C. Hannibal decided 
that the war should be carried into Italy to the very 
gates of Rome. He started from Spain, half of which 
the Carthaginians ruled, marched across southern Gaul, 






THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 



51 



and came to the foot-hills of the Alps. To climb the 
Alps was the most difficult part of his long journey. 

Crossing the Alps. There were no roads across the 
mountains, only rough paths used by the mountaineers, 
who constantly attacked Hannibal's soldiers, bursting 
out suddenly upon them from behind a turn in the trail, 
or rolling huge rocks upon them from above. The ele- 





'/J 



The Alps that Hannibal had to Cross 

phants, the horses, and the baggage animals of the army 
were frightened, and in the tumult many of them slipped 
over the precipices and wxre dashed on the rocks below. 
For five days the army toiled upward, and then rested 
two days on the summit of the pass. 

Although the road down into Italy was short, it was 
steep, and the paths were slippery with ice and with 
snow trodden into slush by thousands of men and animals. 



52 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

In one place there had been a landsUde, and the road 
along the rocky slope was cut away for a thousand feet. 
In order to build a new road it was necessary to crack 
the rocks. This the soldiers did by making huge fires 
and pouring wine over the heated surface. At last, 
worn out, ragged, and half starved, the army reached the 
plains of Italy, but with a loss of half its men. 

How Hannibal won a Victory. The first great battle 
with the Romans was fought on the river Trebia in 
northern Italy, and in it Hannibal showed how easil}^ 
he could outwit and destroy a Roman army. It was a 
winter's day and the river was swollen by rains. The 
two camps lay on opposite banks. In the early morning 
Hannibal sent across the river a body of horsemen to 
attack the Roman camp and draw the Romans into a 
battle. At the same time he ordered his other soldiers 
to eat breakfast, to build fires before their tents to warm 
themselves, and to rub their bodies with oil, so that they 
might be strong for the coming fight. 

The Romans were suddenly roused by the attack of 
the Carthaginian horsemen, and, without waiting for 
food, moved out of camp, chasing the horsemen toward 
the river. Into its icy waters the Romans waded breast- 
high, and when they came up on the opposite bank they 
were benumbed with cold. As soon as Hannibal knew 
that the Romans had crossed the river he attacked them 
fiercely with all his troops. Two thousand men whom he 
had placed in ambush fell upon the rear of their line. 
Their allies were frightened by a charge of elephants. 
Seeing that destruction was certain, ten thousand of the 



THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 



53 




A Roman Soldier 



best soldiers broke through the Cathaginian Hue and 
marched away. All the rest of the army was destroyed. 

Roman Endurance. This was not the last of the 
Roman defeats. Two other armies 
were destroyed by Hannibal during 
the next two years. In the battle 
of Cannae nearly seventy thousand 
Romans, including eighty senators, 
were slain. The news filled the city 
with weeping women, but the sen- 
ate did not think of yielding. When 
their allies deserted them, they be- 
sieged the faithless cities, took them, 
beheaded the rulers, and sold the 
inhabitants into slavery. 

They did not dare to fight Hannibal in the open field, 
but tried to wear him out by cutting off all small bodies 
of his troops and by making it difficult for him to get 
food for his army. They carried the war into Spain and 
finally into Africa, and when, with a weakened army, 
Hannibal faced them there, they defeated him. His 
defeat was the ruin of Carthage, for the unhappy city 
was compelled to see her fleet destroyed, to pay the 
Romans a huge sum of money, and to give up Spain to 
them. 

Other Roman Triumphs. The war with Carthage 
ended two hundred and two years before the birth of 
Christ. In the wars that followed, Roman armies 
fought not only in Spain and Africa, but also in Greece 
and Asia. Carthage was destroyed; as was also Corinth, 



54 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

a Greek city. Roman generals enriched themselves and 
sent great treasures back to Rome. Roman merchants 
grew rich because their rivals in Carthage and Corinth 
were ruined or because the conquered cities were for- 
bidden to trade with any city but Rome. All this took 
a long time and many wars, but in the end the Romans 
became masters of every land along the shores of the 
Mediterranean. This was not wholly a misfortune, for 
the Romans had learned that the Greeks were superior 
to them in some things and they took the Greeks as their 
teachers in most of the arts of hving. The ancient 
world became a sort of partnership, and we call its civi- 
lization Graeco-Roman, that is, both Greek and Roman. 

The Romans as Rulers. The Romans at first treated 
the lands in Sicily, Spain, Africa, Greece, and Asia as 
conquered territories, or provinces, sending to rule over 
them officers who were to act both as governors and 
judges. With these men went many tax-collectors or 
'' pubhcans." The Romans were obliged to leave in 
most provinces a large body of soldiers to put down 
any attempt at rebellion. Often the officers and the 
pubhcans robbed the country instead of ruling it justly. 

Evil Results of Conquest. During the wars the 
Romans had lost many of their simple ways of living. 
Some had grown rich in the business of providing for the 
armies and navies, and they were eager for new wars in 
order to make still bigger fortunes. Hannibal's marches 
up and down Italy had driven thousands of farmers 
from their homes, and they had wandered to Rome for 
safety and food. When the war was over many of them 



THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 



55 



did not go back to their homes. Those who did found 
that they could no longer get fair prices for their crops 
because great quantities of wheat were shipped to Rome 
from the conquered lands. Wealthy men bought the 
little farms and joined them, making great estates 
where slaves raised sheep and cattle or tended vineyards 
and ohve groves. There was not much work for free 
men in Rome, for slaves were very cheap. One army 
of prisoners was sold at about eight cents apiece. In 
this way the poor were made idle, while the rich sent 
everywhere for new luxuries. 



SvJWHVMO 





Gladiators 

After carvings on the tomb of Scaurus 



Cruel Sports. To amuse the idle crowds, office-seekers 
and victorious generals provided cruel sports. Savage 
animals were turned loose to tear one another to pieces. 
What was worse, human prisoners were compelled to 
fight, armed with swords or spears. These men were 
called gladiators, and often w^ere specially trained to fight 
with one another or with wild beasts. 

Some Things the Romans learned. But the successes 
of the Romans brought them other things which were 
good. They took the buildings of the Greeks as models 
and built similar temples and porticoes in Rome, espe- 



56 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



cially about the old market place or Forum. Their own 
houses, which in earlier times were nothing but cabins, 
they enlarged, and if they were rich enough, built pal- 
aces, adorned with paintings and with statues. Unfor- 
tunately many of 
these came from 
the plunder of 
Greek cities, for 
the Romans were 
great robbers of 
other peoples. The 
poorer Romans 
continued to live 
in wretched hovels. 
The Theater. 
The Romans 
learned more about 
the theaters of the 
Greeks. Their 
plays were either translated into Latin from Greek or 
retold in a different manner from the original Greek. 
The Romans did not succeed in writing any plays of 
their own which were as good as the plays of the Greeks. 
The New Education of the Romans. The Greeks also 
taught the Romans how to write poems and histories. 
The first histories were written in Greek, but later the 
Romans learned how to write in Latin prose and poetry 
as good as much that had been written by the Greeks. 
Greek became the second language of every educated 
Roman, and thus he could enjoy the books of the 




11 iii 



ifilttJiiS^ 




Ruins of the Roman Theater at Orange, 
France 



I 



THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 57 

Greeks as well as those written by Romans. The educa- 
tion of the Roman boy now began with the poems of 
Homer, and the young man's education was not thought 
to be finished until he had traveled in Greece and the 
lands along the eastern Mediterranean. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How long did it take the Romans to conquer Italy? How long 
to conquer the lands about the Mediterranean? In what "Times" 
did all this happen? 

2. Why did the Carthaginians and the Romans fight? What did 
Hannibal promise his father? What sort of a leader was Hannibal? 

3. How did Hannibal reach Italy? How did he win the battle of 
the Trebia? 

4. Why was he unable to force the Romans to yield? 

5. How long before the beginning of the Christian Era did this war 
with Hannibal close? How long after the battle of Marathon, and 
after the death of Alexander the Great? 

6. What other lands did the Romans conquer? How did they rule 
these colonies? 

7. Were they better for the wealth and power they gained? What 
became of many of the Italian farmers? Where did the Romans get 
their slaves? 

8. What good things did they learn from the Greeks? What was 
the Graeco-Roman world? 

EXERCISES 

1. On an outHne map of the lands around the Mediterranean mark 
on each land, Spain, Greece, northern Africa, Asia Minor, and Egypt, 
the dates at which the Romans conquered each, finding these dates 
in any brief Roman or Ancient History — Botsford, Myers, Morey, 
West, Wolfson. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ANCIENT WORLD EXTENDED TO THE 
SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC 

New Conquests of the Romans. The Romans had 
as yet conquered only civihzed peoples like themselves, 
with the exception of the tribes in Spain and southern 
Gaul. Now the Roman armies were to push northward 
over the plains and through the forests of Gaul, across 
the Rhine into unknown Germany, and over the Channel 
into Britain, equally unknown. They were to be ex- 
plorers as well as conquerors. In this way they were 
to carry their civilization to the Rhine and the Atlan- 
tic, and so increase greatly the part of the earth where 
men lived and thought as the Romans did and as the 
Greeks had before them. The ancient civilized world 
was beginning to move from its older center, the Mediter- 
ranean, toward the shore of the Atlantic. 

Ancestors of the French and the Germans. The tribes 
hving in Gaul were not at that time called French, but 
Gallic. The Gauls were like the Britons who lived 
across the Channel in Britain. The German ancestors 
of the Enghsh had not yet crossed the North Sea to that 
land. Beyond the Rhine lived the Germans, who had 
but little to do with the Romans and the Greeks and 
were still barbarians. The Gauls living farthest away 

58 



EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 



59 




from the Roman settlements were not much more 
civihzed. 

The principal difference between the Germans and the 
Gauls was that the Gauls lived in villages and towns and 
cultivated the land or dug 
in mines or traded along 
the rivers, while the Ger- 
mans had no towns and 
dwelt in clearings of the 
forest. Their wealth, like 
that of the early Romans, 
was their cattle. The land 
they cultivated was di- 
vided between them year 
after year, so that a Ger- 
man owned only his hut 
and the plot of ground or garden about it. Some of the 
towns of the Gauls were placed on high hills and were 
protected by strong walls. 

The Terrible Germans. The Romans had at first 
been afraid of the Gauls, because they had never for- 
gotten how terribly these people had once defeated them. 
But since that time they had fought the Gauls so often 
that they were losing this fear. They now dreaded more 
to meet the Germans, who seemed like giants because they 
were taller even than the Gauls. 

Gallic and German Warriors. The leaders of the 
Germans were sometimes kings and sometimes nobles 
whom the Romans called duces, from which comes our 
word duke. The Gallic chieftains were adorned with 



Gallic Warriors 



60 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When they went 
out to battle, they wore helmets shaped like the head of 
some ravenous beast, and their bodies were protected 
by coats of chain armor made of iron rings. Their prin- 
cipal weapon was a long, heavy sword. Both German 
and Gallic nobles were accompanied by bands of young 
men, their devoted followers, who shared the joys of 
victory or died with them in case of defeat. It was a 
disgrace to lose one's sword or to survive if the leader 
was killed. 

How the Germans lived. When the Germans were 
not fighting they were idle, for all work was done by 
women and slaves. They were great drinkers and gam- 
blers, and often in their games a man would stake his 
freedom upon the result. If he lost, he became the slave 
of the winner. The Germans respected their wives, 
even if they compelled them to do the hard work. The 
women sometimes went with the men to battle, and their 
cries encouraged the warriors, or if the warriors wavered, 
the fierce reproaches of the women drove them back to 
the fight. 

Religion of the Germans. We remember the reli- 
gion of the Germans because four days of the week are 
named for their gods or the gods of their neighbors 
across the Baltic. Their principal god was Wodan, or 
Odin, god of the sun and the tempest. Wodan's day is 
Wednesday. Thursday is named for Thor, the North- 
men's god of thunder. The god of war, Tiw, gave a 
name to Tuesday, and Frigu, the goddess of love, to 
Friday. The German, hke his northern neighbors, 



EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 



61 



thought of heaven as the place where brave warriors who 
had died in battle spent their days in feasting. 

Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was the great Roman 
general who conquered the Gauls and led the first expe- 
ditions across the Rhine into Germany 
and over the Channel into Britain. He 
was a wealthy noble who, like other 
nobles, held one office after another un- 
til he became consul. He was also a 
great political leader, and with two other 
men controlled Rome. We should call 
them '' bosses," but the Romans called 
them " triumvirs." 

Caesar in Gaul. As soon as Caesar 
became governor of the province of 
southern Gaul, he showed that he was 
a skilful general as well as a successful 
politician. He interfered in the wars 
between the Gauls, taking sides with the friends of the 
Romans. When a large army of Germans entered Gaul, 
he defeated it and drove it back across the Rhine. One 
war led to another until all the tribes from the country 
now called Belgium to the Mediterranean coast professed 
to be friends of the Roman people. His campaigns lasted 
from 58 B.C. for nine years. Two or three times Caesar 
was very close to ruin, but by his courage and energy he 
always succeeded in gaining the victory. 

Vercingetorix, Gallic Hero. The great hero of the 
Gauls in their struggle with the Romans was Vercin- 
getorix. He was a young noble who lived in a mountain 




Julius Caesar 

After the bust in the 
Museum at Naples 



62 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

town of central Gaul. His father had been killed in an 
attempt to make himself king of his native city. Ver- 
cingetorix believed that if the Gauls did not unite against 
the Romans they would soon see their lands become 
Roman provinces. As he knew his army was no match 
for the Romans in open fight, he persuaded the Gauls to 
try to starve the Romans out of the country. He planned 
to destroy all village stores of grain, and to cut off the 
smaller bands of soldiers which wandered from the main 
army in search of food. 

Caesar and Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix found the 
work of conquering Caesar in this way too difficult. He 
was finally driven to take refuge in Alesia, on a hilltop 
in eastern Gaul. Here the Romans prepared to starve 
him into surrender. They dug miles of deep trenches 
about the fortress so that the imprisoned Gauls could 
not break through. They dug other trenches to protect 
themselves from the attacks of a great army of Gauls 
which came to rescue Vercingetorix. These trenches 
were fifteen or twenty feet wide; they were strength- 
ened by palisades and ramparts, and filled with water 
where this was possible. Several times the Gauls nearly 
succeeded in breaking through, but the quickness and 
stubborn courage of Caesar always saved the day. 

Death of Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix now proved 
that he was a real hero. He offered to give himself up 
to Caesar, if this would save the town. But Caesar 
demanded the submission of all the chiefs. When they 
had laid down their arms before the conqueror, Vercin- 
getorix appeared on a gaily decorated horse. He rode 



< 



EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 



63 



around the throne where Caesar sat, dismounted in front, 
took off his armor, and bowed to the ground. His fate 
was hard. He was sent to Rome a prisoner, was shown 
in the triumphal procession of the victorious Caesar, and 
was then put to death in a dungeon. On the site of 
Alesia stands a monument erected by the French to the 




The Bridge on which Caesar's Army Crossed the Rhine 

memory of the brave Galhc hero. The defeat of Ver- 
cingetorix ended the resistance of the Gauls, and not 
many years afterward their country was added to the 
long list of Roman provinces. 

Caesar in Germany. Caesar crossed the Rhine into 
Germany on a bridge which his engineers built in ten 
days. He laid waste the fields of the tribes near the 
river in order to make the name of Rome feared, and 
then returned to Gaul and destroyed the bridge. Twice 
he sailed over to Britain, the last time marching a few 
miles north of where London now stands. His purpose 



64 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

was to keep the Britons from stirring up the Gauls to 
attack him. Other generals many years later conquered 
Britain as far as the hills of Scotland. 

The German Hero Hermann. The Romans were 
not fortunate in their later attempts to conquer a part 
of Germany. When Caesar's grandnephew Augustus 
was master of Rome, he sent an army under Varus into 
the forests far from the Rhine. Hermann, a leader of 
the Germans, gathered the tribes together and utterly 
destroyed the army of Varus. Whenever Augustus 
thought of this dreadful disaster, he would cry out, 
^^ O Varus, give me back my legions!'' The Rhine and 
the Danube became the northern boundaries of the 
Roman conquests. 

Gauls and Britons become Roman. Although the 
Gauls had fought stubbornly against Caesar they soon 
became as Roman as the Italians themselves. They ceased 
to speak their own language and began to use Latin. 
They mastered Latin so thoroughly that their schools were 
sometimes regarded as better than the schools in Italy, 
and Roman youths were sent to Gaul to learn how best to 
speak their own language. The Britons also became very 
good Romans. Even the Germans frequently crossed 
the Rhine and enhsted in the Roman armies. When they 
returned to their own country they carried Roman ideas 
and customs with them. 

The Interest of Americans in Roman Successes. For 
Americans the influence the Romans exerted in Spain, 
Gaul, Germany, and Britain is more important than their 
work in the eastern Mediterranean, because from those 



66 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



countries came the early settlers of America. The civ- 
ilization which the Romans taught the peoples of west- 
ern Europe was to become a valuable part of the 
civilization of our forefathers. 

Size of the Roman World. We may realize how large 
the world of the Romans was by observing on a modern 
map that within its limits lay modern England, France, 







Ruins of the Ancient Gauls at Carnac, in Brittany, France 

Spain, Portugal, the southern part of Austria-Hungary, 
Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, the Turkish Empire both in 
Europe and Asia, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and 
Morocco. For a time they also ruled north of the Dan- 
ube, and the Rumanians boast that they are descended 
from Roman colonists. The peoples in southern Russia 
were influenced by the Greeks and by the Romans, 
although the Romans did not try to bring them under 
their rule. 

No modern empire has included so many important 
countries. If we compare this vast territory with 
the scattered colonies of the Greeks, we shall under- 
stand how useful it was that the Romans adopted 



EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 



67 



much of the Greek civihzation, for they could carry it to 
places that the Greeks never reached. 

QUESTIONS 

1. After the Romans had conquered the lands about the Mediter- 
ranean, into what other countries did the}^ march? 

2. Who once hved where the French now hve? Tell how the Gauls 
lived. 

3. How did the manner of living of the Germans differ from that 
of the Gauls? Were the Britons similar to the Germans or to the 
Gauls? 

4. What names do we get from the names of the German gods? 

5. Who was Juhus 
Caesar? Why did he go 
among the Gauls? What 
was the result of his 
wars with the Gauls? 
Tell the story of Ver- 
cingetorix. 

6. After the conquest 
of the Gauls, into what 
countries did Caesar go? 

7. What was the fate of the Roman army in Germany in the time 
of Augustus? 

8. In which of these countries did the peoples become much like 
the Romans? 

9. Why have Americans a special interest in the Roman conquest 
of Gaul and Britain? 

EXERCISES 

1. Caesar and Alexander were two of the greatest generals who 
ever lived. How many years after Alexander died did Caesar begin 
his wars in Gaul? What difference was there between what these 
two generals did? Whose work is the more important for us? 

2. Plan a large map of the Graeco-Roman world, pasting on each 
country a picture of some interesting Greek or Roman ruin. This 
will take a long time, but many pictures may be found in advertising 
folders of steamship lines and tourist agencies. 





A Roman Coin with the Head of 
Julius Caesar 



68 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



REVIEW 

(Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII) 

How the Graeco-Roman world was built up: 

1. The Greeks drive back the Persians. 

2. The Greeks settle in many places on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean and Black Seas. 

3. Alexander conquers the countries about the eastern Mediter- 
ranean. 

4. The Romans conquer the Greeks in Italy, but learn their ways 
of living. 

5. The Romans conquer the Carthaginians and seize their colonies. 

6. The Romans conquer all the lands around the Mediterranean. 

7. The Romans conquer Gaul and Britain. 

Important dates in this work of building a Graeco-Romayi world : 
Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. 
Work of Alexander ended, 323 B.C. 
Romans become masters of Italy, 275 B.C. 
Romans conquer Hannibal, 202 b.c. 
Caesar's conquest of Gaul complete, 49 b.c. 



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Roman Farmer's Calendar 



41 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 

Strife at Rome. While the Romans were conquering 
the ancient world they had begun to quarrel among them- 
selves. Certain men resolved that Rome should not be 
managed any longer by the noble senators for their own 
benefit or for the benefit of rich contractors and mer- 
chants. They wished to have the idle crowds of men 
who packed the shows and circuses settled as free 
farmers on the unused lands of Italy. 

Among these new leaders were two brothers, Tibe- 
rius and Caius Gracchus, sons of one of Rome's noblest 
families. The other nobles looked upon them with ha- 
tred and killed them, first Tiberius and afterward Caius. 
These murders did not end the trouble. The leaders on 
both sides armed their followers, and bloody battles were 
fought in the streets. Generals led their armies to Rome, 
although, according to the laws, to bring an army into Italy 
south of the Rubicon River was to make war on the 
repubUc and be guilty of treason. Once in the city these 
generals put to death hundreds of their enemies. 

Caesar rules Rome. The strife in the city had 
ceased for a time when Pompey, a famous general, who 
had once shared power with Caesar as a ^' triumvir," 
joined the senators in planning his ruin. Caesar led 

69 



70 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

his army into Italy to the borders of the Rubicon. Ex- 
claiming, ^' The die is cast," he crossed the sacred bound- 
ary and marched straight to Rome. Pompey and his 
party fled, and civil war divided the Roman world into 
those who followed Caesar and those who followed Pom- 
pey. Caesar was everywhere victorious, in Italy, Africa, 
Spain, and the East. He brought back order into the 
government of the city and of the provinces, but in 
the year 44 b.c. he was murdered in the senate-house 
by several senators, one of whom, Marcus Brutus, had 
been his friend. 

Origin of the Title ** Emperor." Caesar had not been 
called " emperor," though the chief power had been his. 
One of his titles was '^ imperator," or commander of the 
army, a word from which our word " emperor " comes. 
He was really the first emperor of Rome. In later times 
the very word Caesar became an imperial title, not only 
in the Roman Empire, but also in modern Germany, for 
'' Kaiser " is another form of the word ^' Caesar." 

Beginnings of the Empire. Caesar's successor was his 
grandnephew Octavius, usually called Augustus, which 
was one of his titles. Augustus carried out many of 
Caesar's plans for improving the government in Rome 
and in the provinces. The people in the provinces were 
no longer robbed by Roman officersi Many of them 
became Roman citizens. After a time all children born 
within the empire were considered Romans, just as if 
they had been born in Rome. 

The Roman Empire. The Roman Empire carried on 
the work which the republic had begun. It did some 



CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 



71 



things better than the repubhc had done them. Within 
its frontiers there was peace for two or three hundred 
years. Many people had an opportunity to share in 
all the best that the Greeks 
and Romans had learned. 
Unfortunately the peoples 
imitated the bad as well as 
the good. 

Roman Roads. As builders the Ro- 
mans taught much to those who hved 
after them. Their great roads leading 
out from Rome have never been ex- 
celled. In Gaul these roads served, 
centuries later, to mark out the pres- 
ent French system of highroads and 
showed many a route to the builders of 
railroads. They were made so solid 
that parts of them still remain after 
two thousand years. 

How these Roads were built. In 
planning their roads the Romans did not hesitate before 
obstacles like hills or deep valleys or marshy lands. They 
often pierced the hills with tunnels and bridged the val- 
leys or swamps. In building a road they dug a trench 
about fifteen feet wide and pounded the earth at the 
bottom until it was hard. Upon this bottom was placed 
a layer of rough stones, over which were put nine inches 
of broken stone mixed with lime to form a sort of con- 
crete. This was covered by a layer six inches deep of 
broken bricks or broken tiles, which when pounded down 




Augustus Caesar 

After the statue in the 
Vatican 



72 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



offered a hard, smooth surface. On the top were laid 
large paving stones carefully fitted so that there need be 
no jar when a wagon rolled over the road. 

Such roads were necessary for the traders who passed 
to and fro throughout the empire, but especially for 
troops or government messengers sent with all speed to 




Cross-Section of a Roman Road 



regions where there was danger of revolt or where the 
frontiers were threatened by the barbarians. 

Aqueducts. Next to their roads the most remarkable 
Roman structures were the aqueducts which brought 
water to. the city from rivers or springs, some of them 
many miles away. Had they known, as we do, how to 
make heavy iron pipes, their aqueducts would have been 
laid underground, except where they crossed deep valleys. 
The lead pipes which they used were not strong enough 
to endure the force of a great quantity of water, and so 
when the aqueducts reached the edge of the plain which 
stretches from the eastern hills to the walls of Rome, the 
streams of flowing water were carried in stone channels 
resting upon arches which sometimes reached the height 
of over ninety feet. 

The Claudian Aqueduct. The Claudian aqueduct, 



CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 73 

which is the most magnificent ever built, is carried on 
such arches for about seven miles and a half. Although 
broken in many places, and though the water has not 
flowed through its lofty channels for sixteen hundred 
years, it is one of the grandest sights in the neighbor- 
hood of Rome. If we add together the lengths of the 




^|||i iijifi 



Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 

Completed by the Roman Emperor Claudian in 52 a.d. The structure was 
nearly a hundred feet high 

aqueducts, underground or carried on arches, which 
provided Rome with her water supply, the total is over 
three hundred miles. They could furnish Rome with a 
hundred million gallons of water a day. 

Public Baths. The Romans used great quantities of 
water for their public baths, which were large buildings 
with rooms especially made for bathing in hot or cold 
water and for plunges. They were also, like the Greek 
gymnasiums, places for exercise, conversation, and read- 
ing. Many were built as monuments by wealthy men 
and by emperors. A very small fee was charged for 



74 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

entrance, and the money was used to pay for repairs 
and the wages of those who managed the baths. 

Two Famous Buildings. Many of the Roman temples, 
porticoes, and theaters were copied from Greek build- 
ings, but the Romans used the arch more than did the 
Greeks, and in this the builders of later times imitated 



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1. 



Ruins of the Colosseum 

them. Among their greatest buildings were the amphi- 
theaters, from the benches of which crowds watched 
gladiators fighting one another or struggling with wild 
beasts. The largest of these amphitheaters was the Col- 
osseum, the ruins of which still exist. Its outer walls 
were one hundred and sixty feet high. In one direction 
it measured six hundred and seventeen feet and in 
another five hundred and twelve. There were seats 
enough for forty-five thousand persons. The lowest 
seats were raised fifteen feet above the arena or central 
space where men or wild beasts fought. Through an 



CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 



75 



arrangement of underground pipes the arena could be 
flooded so that the spectators might enjoy the excite- 
ment of a real naval battle. 

Another great building was the Circus Maximus, 
built to hold the crowds that watched the chariot-races, 








The Pantheon 

and at one time having seats for two hundred thousand 
persons. In their amusements the Romans became more 
and more vulgar, excitable, and cruel. Some equally 
splendid buildings were used for better things. 

The Pantheon. One of these was the Pantheon, a 
temple which was afterward a Christian church. It 
still stands, and is now used as the burial-place of the 
Italian kings. The most remarkable part of it is the 
dome, which has a width of a little over one hundred 
and forty-two feet. No other dome in the world is so 



76 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



wide. The Romans were very successful in covering 
large spaces with arched or vaulted ceilings. All later 
builders of domes and arches are their pupils. 

Basilicas. The Romans had other large buildings 
called basilicas. These were porticoes or promenades, 














The Arch of Titus 

with the space in the center covered by a great roof. 
They were used as places for public meetings. One of 
them had one hundred and eight pillars arranged in a 
double row around the sides and ends of this central 
space. The name basilica is Greek and means ''royal." 
Some of these basilicas were used as Christian churches 
when the Romans accepted the Christian religion. The 
central space was then called the ''nave," and the spaces 
between the columns the aisles. 



CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 



77 



Triumphal Arches. The Romans built beautiful 
arches to celebrate their victories. Several of these 
still remain, with sentences cut into their stone tablets 
telhng of the triumphs of their builders. Modern people 
have taken them as models for similar memorial arches. 



.^\^- iff* *^ 




A Roman Aqueduct 

Still in good repair, the Pont du Gard, near Nimes, France 

Roman Law. The Romans did much for the world 
by their laws. They showed little regard for the rights 
of men captured in war and were cruel in their treatment 
of slaves, but they considered carefully the rights of 
free men and women. Under the emperors the lawyers 
and judges worked to make the laws clearer and fairer 
to all. Finally the Emperor Justinian, who ruled at 
the time when the empire was already half ruined by 
the attacks of barbarian enemies, ordered the lawyer 
Tribonian to gather into a single code all the statutes 



78 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



and decrees. These laws lasted long after the empire 
was destroyed, and out of them grew many of the laws 
used in Europe to-day. They have also influenced our 
laws in America. 



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Pavement of a Roman Villa in England 

Unearthed not many years ago at Aldborough. Such stones laid in the form of 
designs or pictures are called Mosaics 



QUESTIONS 

1. In the political strife at Rome what did the brothers Tiberius 
and Caius Gracchus try to do? 

2. What did Julius Caesar do when a party of senators tried to 
ruin him? What was the result of his war with the other Roman 
leaders? 

3. From what Roman word does "Emperor" come? What is the 
origin of the word "Kaiser"? How did Caesar die? 

4. Who was Caesar's successor and the first one who organized the 
Roman Empire? 

5. Why were the Romans such great builders of roads? How were 
their roads built? Do any traces of them still remain? 



CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD 79 

6. How did the Romans provide the city with a supply of pure 
water? 

7. What was a Roman bath? 

8. Were the Romans as famous as the Greeks for their buildings? 
Name the largest buildings in Rome. What was a basihca? Of 
what use were basihcas to the Christians later? 

9. Do you remember the earliest form of the Roman law (page 
46)? What did Justinian do with the laws in his day? Are these 
laws important to us? 

EXERCISES 

1. What emperors are there now? Are they hke Caesar and 
Augustus? 

2. Find out if our roads are built as carefully as the Roman roads 
and if they are likely to last as long. What different kinds of roads 
do we have? Can any one in the room construct a small model of a 
Roman road? 

3. Find out how water is now carried to cities. Are cities provided 
with great public baths like those of the Romans? 

4. Ask a librarian or a lawyer to show you a copy of the revised 
statutes of your state. This is a code somewhat like the code of 
Justinian, only not so brief. 




Templum Jovis Capitolini 

(Medallion) 



CHAPTER IX 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

The Religion of the Jews. Among the cities cap- 
tured by the Romans was Jerusalem, about which clus- 
ter so many stories from the Old Testament. There, 
hundreds of years before, lived David, the shepherd 
boy who, after wonderful adventures, became king of his 
people. There his son Solomon built a temple of dazzling 
splendor. Among this people had arisen great preachers, 
— Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, — who declared that reli- 
gion did not consist in the sacrifice of bulls and goats, 
but in justice, in mercy, and in humility. They had a 
genius for religion, just as the Greeks had a genius for 
art, and the Romans a genius for government. 

The Jews conquered by the Romans. When the Jews 
first heard of the Romans they admired these citizens 
of a republic who made and unmade kings. In later 
years they learned that the Romans were hard masters 
and they feared and hated them. The Jewish king- 
dom was one of the last countries along the shores 
of the Mediterranean which the Romans conquered, but 
like all the others it finally became a Roman province. 

Jesus of Nazareth. A few years before the Jewish 
kingdom became a Roman province there was born in a 
village near Jerusalem a child named Jesus. After he 

80 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE 



81 



had grown to manhood in Nazareth he gathered about 
him followers or disciples whom he taught to Uve and act 
as is told in the books of the New Testament. 

This was the beginning of the Christian religion. It 
was first held by a little band of Jews, but Paul, a Jew 




A View of Jerusalem 

Showing the Mount of Olives in the distance 

born in Tarsus, a city of Asia whose inhabitants had 
received the rights of Roman citizenship, believed that 
the message of the new religion was meant for all nations. 
He taught it in many cities of Asia Minor and Greece, 
and even w^ent as far west as Rome. Several of the 
epistles or letters in the New Testament were written 
by Paul to churches which he had founded or where he 



82 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

had taught. So it happens that from Palestine came 
reUgious teachings which multitudes consider even more 
important than the art and hterature of the Greeks or 
the laws and political methods of the Romans. 

Why the Christians were persecuted. The Romans 
at first refused to permit any one in their empire to call 
himself a Christian. They disliked the Jews because 
the Jews denied that the Roman gods were real gods, 
asserting that these gods were mere images in wood and 
stone. The Christians did this also, but in the eyes of 
the Roman rulers the worst offense of the Christians 
was that they appeared to form a sort of secret society 
and held meetings to which other persons were not 
admitted. The emperor had forbidden such societies. 

The Romans also disliked the Christians because of 
their refusal to join in the public ceremonies which hon- 
ored the emperor as if he were a god who had given peace 
and order to the world and who was able to reward the 
good and punish the evil. The Christians believed it 
to be wrong to join in the worship of an emperor, whether 
he were alive or dead. 

Christians put to Death. The Romans were cruel in 
their manner of punishing disobedience, and many Chris- 
tians suffered death in its most horrible forms. Some 
were burned, others were tortured, others were torn to 
pieces by wild animals in the great amphitheaters to 
satisfy the fierce Roman crowd. Nero, the worst of 
the Roman emperors, who, many thought, set Rome on 
fire in order that he might enjoy the sight of the burning 
city, tried to turn suspicion from himself by accusing 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE 



83 



the Christians of the crime. He punished them by tying 
them to poles, smearing tlieir bodies with pitch, and burn- 
ing them at night as torches. 

The Christians allowed to Worship. The new reli- 
gion spread rapidly from province to province in spite 
of these persecutions. At first the Christians worshiped 















ijnnifnip 



A \ lEw OF Constantinople 



secretly, but later they ventured to build churches. 
Finally, three centuries after the birth of Christ, the 
emperors promised that the persecutions should cease 
and that the Christians might worship undisturbed. 

The Roman Empire becomes Christian about 325 A.D. 
Constantine w^as the first emperor to become Christian. 
He was the one who made the Greek city Byzantium the 
capital of the empire and for whom it was renamed 
Constantinople. For a time both the old Roman religion 



84 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

and the Christian rehgion were favored by the emperors, 
but before the fourth century closed the old religion was 
forbidden. In later days worshipers of the Roman gods 
were mostly country people, called in Latin pagani, and 
therefore their religion was called ^' paganism." 

How the Church was ruled. One of the reasons why 
the Christians had been successful in their struggle with 
the Roman emperors was that they were united under 
wise and brave leaders. The Christians in each large 
city were ruled by a bishop, and the bishops of several 
cities were directed by an archbishop. In the western 
part of the empire the bishop of Rome, who was called 
the pope, was honored as the chief of the bishops and 
archbishops, and the successor of the Apostle Peter. In 
the eastern part the archbishops or patriarchs of Con- 
stantinople and Alexandria and Jerusalem honored the 
pope, but claimed to be equal in authority with him. 

There were also two kinds of clergy, parish priests and 
monks. The priests were pastors of ordinary parishes, 
but the monks lived in groups in buildings called mon- 
asteries. Sometimes their purpose was to dwell far 
from the bustle and wrongs of ordinary life and give 
themselves to prayer and fasting; sometimes they acted 
as a brotherhood of teachers in barbarous communi- 
ties, teaching the people better methods of farming, and 
carrying the arts of civilized life beyond the borders of 
the empire. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Where did the Jews Hve in Ancient Times? 

2. Do you remember any of the stories of David? 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE 



85 



3. What finally became of the kingdom over which David ruled? 

4. What era in the history of the world begins with the birth 
of Jesus Christ? 

5. Why did the Romans forbid the Christians to worship? How 
did the Romans punish them? How long after the birth of Christ 
before the emperors allowed the Christians to worship undisturbed? 




A Monastery in the Middle Ages 

Abbey of Saint-Germain des Pres as it appeared in 1361 with wall, towers, and 
moat or ditch 

6. What is the name of the first Roman emperor who became a 
Christian? What name was soon given to the worshipers of the 
old Roman gods? 

7, By what titles were the leaders of the Christians named? 
What two kinds of clergy were there? 

Important date: 325 a.d., when the Roman Empire became 
Christian. 



CHAPTER X 
EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 

The Middle Ages. It was more than a thousand years 
from the time of Constantine to the time of Columbus. 
This period is called " Mediaeval," or the " Middle 
Ages." During these long centuries the ancient civi- 
lized world of the Roman Empire was much changed. 
The Roman or Greek cities on the southern shores of the 
Mediterranean were captured by Arabs or Moors. The 
Moors conquered the larger part of Spain. The eastern 
lands of Palestine and Asia Minor fell into the hands of 
the Turks. The Turks, the Moors, and the Arabs were 
followers of the '' prophet " Mohammed, who died in 
the year 632. The Mohammedans were enemies of the 
Christians. 

Western Europe. The other part of the European 
world was also changed. The countries on the shores 
of the Atlantic were now more important than those on 
the shores of the Mediterranean. The names of the 
different countries were changed. Instead of Gallia or 
Gaul, there was France; instead of Britannia, England; 
for Hispania, Spain; for Germania, Deutschland or Ger- 
many. Italy, the center of the old empire, was finally 
divided into several states — city republics like Genoa 

86 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



87 



and Venice, provinces ruled by the pope, and other 
territories ruled by dukes, princes, or kings 

Fate of Civilization. The most important question to 
ask is. How much of the manner of living or civihzation 
of the Greeks and the 
Romans did the later 
Europeans still retain? 
The answer is found in 
the history of the Mid- 
dle Ages. In this his- 
tory is also found what 
men added to that 
which they had learned 
from the Greeks and the 
Romans. The emi- 
grants to America were 
to carry with them 
knowledge which not 
even the wisest men of 
the ancient world had 
possessed. 




Wall of Aurelian 

This wall enclosed the ancient city of Rome. 
It was about thirteen miles in circumference 
fifty-five feet high, and had three hundred 
towers 



Mediaeval German Emigrants. The first part of the 
history of the Middle Ages explains how the German 
peoples from whom most of our forefathers were de- 
scended began to move from the northern forests towards 
he borders of the Roman Empire. Many thousand 
L^nhal already crossed the Rhine and the Danube 
to serve in the Roman armies. Sometimes an unusu- 
ally strong and skilful warrior would be made a general. 
Germans had also crossed the Rhine to work as farmers 



88 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

on the estates of the rich GalUc nobles. Other Germans, 
called Goths, worked in Constantinople and the cities 
of the East as masons, porters, and water-carriers. The 
Romans had owned so many slaves that they had lost 
the habit of work and were glad to hire these foreigners. 

Story of Ulfilas. Many of the Goths who lived north 
of the Danube had forsaken their old gods and become 
Christians. They were taught by Bishop Ulfilas, once 
a captive among them, afterward a missionary. He 
translated the Bible into the Gothic language, and this 
translation is the most ancient specimen of German that 
we possess. Many of the other German tribes learned 
about Christianity from the Goths, and although they 
might be enemies of the Roman government, they were 
not enemies of the Church. 

The Goths invade the Roman Empire. The Roman 
emperors tried to prevent the northern tribes from cross- 
ing the frontier in great numbers, because, once across, 
if they did not find work and food, they became plun- 
derers. Not many years after Constantine's death, a 
million Goths had passed the Danube and had plundered 
the country almost to the walls of Constantinople. This 
was not like the invasion of a regular army, which comes 
to fight battles and to arrange terms of peace. 

The Goths, and the Germans who soon followed their 
example, moved as a whole people, with their wives and 
children, their cattle, and the few household goods they 
owned. Wherever they wished to settle they demanded 
of the Romans one third, sometimes two thirds, of the 
land. They soon learned to be good neighbors of the 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 89 

older inhabitants, although at first they were little bet- 
ter than robbers. Alaric, one of the leaders of the Goths, 
led them into Italy and in the year 410 captured Rome. 
Alaric did not injure the buildings much, and he kept 
his men from robbing the churches. Some of the other 
barbarous tribes who roamed about plundering villages 
and attacking cities did far greater damage. The Roman 
government grew weaker and weaker, until one by one 
the provinces fell into the hands of German kings. 

Beginnings of England, France, and Germany. Brit- 
ain was attacked by the Angles and Saxons from the 
shores of Germany across the North Sea. (See map, 
page 65.) They drove away the inhabitants or made 
slaves of them and settled upon the lands they had 
seized. The country was then called Angle-land or 
England, and the people Anglo-Saxons or Englishmen. 

The Roman provinces in Gaul were gradually con- 
quered by the Franks from the borders of the Rhine, 
and they gave the name France to the land. 

At about the same time the other German tribes 
that had remained in Germany united under one king. 

The Result of Barbarian Attacks. The part of the 
ancient world which lay about Constantinople was less 
changed than the rest during the Middle Ages. The 
walls of Constantinople were high and thick, and they 
withstood attack after attack until 1453. Within their 
shelter men continued to live much as they had lived in 
Ancient Times. A few delighted to study the writings 
of the ancient Greeks. In Italy and the other countries 
of western Europe most of the cities were in ruins. The 



90 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



ancient baths, amphitheaters, aqueducts, and palaces of 
Rome crumbled and fell. The mediaeval Romans also 
used 'huge buildings like the Colosseum as quarries of 
cut stone and burned the marble for lime. This was 
done in every country where Roman buildings existed. 




-^-^-r^-^^ 



The Amphitheater at Arles 



The amphitheater at Aries in southern France had a still 
stranger fortune. It was used at one time as a citadel, 
at another as a prison and gradually became the home 
of hundreds of the criminals and the poor of the city. 
'^ Every archway held its nest of human outcasts. From 
stone to stone they cast their rotting beams and plaster 
and burrowed into the very entrails of the enormous 
building to seek a secure retreat from the pursuit of the 
officers of the law." 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



91 



Few persons traveled from Constantinople to Italy or 
France, and few from western Europe visited Constan- 
tinople. The men of Italy and France and England did 
not know how to read Greek. Many of them also ceased 
to read the writings of the ancient Romans. 




St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, England 

This church is on the site of a chapel built in the sixth century. Its walls show- 
some of the bricks of the original chapel 

The English become Christians, 597 A.D. Christian- 
ity had spread throughout the Roman Empire, and it 
became the religion of all the tribes who founded king- 
doms of their own upon the ruins of the Empire. The 
Angles and Saxons, when they invaded Britain, were 
still worshipers of the gods Wodan and Thor. They 
had never learned from the Goths of Ulfilas anything 
about Christianity. 

One day in the slave market at Rome three fair-haired 
boys were offered for sale. Gregory, a noble Roman, 



92 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



who had become a monk and was the abbot of his mon- 
astery, happened to be passing and asked who they were. 
He was told they were Angles. '^ Angels," he cried, 
'' yes, they have faces like angels, and should become 



l,iilllllllii(toiii(i(iiiiiliii(iiffli(iii 




Gregory and the Little English Slaves 



companions of the angels in heaven." When this good 
abbot became pope, he sent missionaries to Angle-land 
and they established themselves at Canterbury. 

Missionaries to the Germans and the Slavs. The 
conversion of the English helped in the spread of 
Christianity on the Continent, for Boniface, an English 
monk, was the greatest missionary to the Germans. 
He won thousands from the worship of their ancient 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 93 

gods and founded many churches. The Slavs, who 
lived east of the Germans, were taught by missionaries 
from Constantinople instead of from Rome. 

The Educated Men of the Middle Ages. The mission- 
aries and teachers of the Church had been educated like 
the older Romans. They read Roman books, and tried 
to preserve the knowledge which both Greeks and Ro- 
mans had gathered. Influenced by them, the emigrants 
and conquerors from the north also tried to be like the 
Romans. Educated men, and especially the priests of 
the Church, used Latin as their language. In this way 
some parts of the old Roman and Greek civilization 
were preserved, although the Roman government had 
fallen and many beautiful cities were mere heaps of 
ruins. 

The Vikings. The emigration of whole peoples from 
one part of Europe to another did not stop when the 
Roman Empire was overrun. New peoples appeared and 
sought to plunder or crowd out the tribes which had 
already settled within its boundaries and were learning 
the ways of civilization. 

One of these peoples came from the regions now 
known as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They were 
called Danes by the English, and Northmen or Normans 
by other Europeans. They had another name, Vikings, 
which was their word for sea-rovers. 

It was their custom to sail the seas and rivers rather 
than march on the land. They were a hardy and dar- 
ing people, who liked nothing better than to fight and 
conquer and rob in other countries. There was not a 



94 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



land in western Europe, even as far south as Sicily, that 
they did not visit. Wherever they went they plundered 
and burned and murdered, leaving a blackened trail. 

The Danes in England. The Danes ravaged the 
eastern and southern shores of England, and after they 
were tired of robbery, partly because there was little 




A Viking Ship at Sea 

left to take, they began to settle in the land. Alfred, the 
greatest of the early English kings, was driven by them 
into the swamps for a while, but in the year 878 a.d. 
he conquered an army of them in battle and per- 
suaded one of their kings to be baptized as a Christian. 
Alfred was obliged to allow them to keep the eastern por- 
tion of England, a region called Danelaw, because the law 
of the Danes was obeyed there. 

The Danes become Normans. No more Danes or 
Northmen came to trouble England for a time, but instead 
they crossed the Channel to France and rowed up the Seine 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



95 



and tried to capture Paris. A few years later a Frankish 
king gave them the city of Rouen, further down the Seine, 
and the region about it which was called Normandy. 
These Normans also accepted Christianity. 

The Vikings become Discoverers. Before another 
hundred years had passed the North- 
men performed a feat more difficult 
than sailing up rivers and burning 
towns. They were the first to venture 
far out of sight of land, though their 
ships were no larger than our fishing 
boats. These bold sailors visited the 
Orkney and the Shetland Islands, north 
of Scotland, and finally reached Iceland. 
In Iceland their sheep and cattle flour- 
ished, and a lively trade in fish, oil, 
butter, and skins sprang up with the old 
homeland and with the British islands. 

Before long one of the settlers, named Eric the Red, 
led a colony to Greenland, the larger and more desolate 
island further west. He called it Greenland because, he 
said, men would be more easily persuaded to go there if 
the land had a good name. This was probably in the 
year 985. 

Discovery of Vinland. Eric had a son, called Leif 
Ericson, or Leif the Lucky, who visited Norway and 
was well received at the court of King Olaf. Not long 
before missionaries had persuaded Olaf and his people to 
give up their old gods and accept Christianity, and Leif 
followed their example. Leif set out in the early summer 




Leif Ericson 

From the statue ir 
Boston 



96 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the year 1000 to carry the new rehgion to his father, 
Eric the Red, to his father's people, and to his neigh- 
bors. The voyage was a long one, lasting all the summer, 
for on the way his ship was driven out of its course and 
came upon strange lands where wild rice and grape-vines 
and large trees grew. The milder climate and stories of 
large trees useful for building ships aroused the curiosity 
of the Greenlanders. 

They sent exploring expeditions, and found the coast 
of North America at places which they called Helluland, 
that is, the land of flat stones; Markland, the land of 
forests; and Vinland, where the grape-vines grow. Hel- 
luland was probably on the coast of Labrador, Markland 
somewhere on the shores of Newfoundland, and Vinland 
in Nova Scotia. 

The Settlement in Vinland. Thornfinn Karlsefni, a 
successful trader between Iceland and Greenland, at- 
tempted to plant a colony in the new lands. Karlsefni 
and his friends, to the number of one hundred and sixty 
men and several women, set out in 1007 with three or 
four ships, loaded with supplies and many cattle. They 
built huts and remained three or four winters in Vinland, 
but all trace of any settlement disappeared long ago. 

They found, their stories tell us, swarthy, rough-looking 
Indians, with coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks, 
with whom they traded red cloth for furs. Trouble 
broke out between the Northmen and the Indians, who 
outnumbered them. So many Northmen were killed 
that the survivors became alarmed and returned to 
Greenland. 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 



97 



Vinland forgotten. The voyages to Vinland soon 
ceased and the discoveries of Leif and his followers were 
only remembered in the songs or ^^ sagas " of the people. 
They thought of Vinland mainly as a land of flat stones, 
great trees, and fierce natives. Nor did the wise men of 




Discoveries of the Northmen 

The American lands they found are marked with diagonal lines 

Europe who heard the Northmen's story guess that a 
New World had been discovered. It was probably 
fortunate that five hundred years were to go by before 
Europeans settled in America, for within that time they 
were to learn a great deal and to find again many things 
which the Romans had left but which in the year 1000 
were hidden away, either in the ruins of the ancient 



98 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

cities or in libraries and treasure-houses, where few 
knew of them. The more Europeans possessed before 
they set out, the more Americans would have to start with. 

^"^ .eya fema vetr-u le^Petaks %xobw%, 
tnair e ^ j:ja2rt(tSZ' fe^iOl^]^. h^t^xt) 

Facsimile of a Bit of an Old Saga Manuscript 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is meant by the ''Middle Ages" or the "Mediaeval" 
period? 

2. Show on the map, page 65, what part of the Roman Empire 
was conquered by the Mohammedans. 

3. Mention the Roman names of England, France, Germany, 
and Spain. Why were they changed to what they are now? 

4. What people early in the Middle Ages began to emigrate from 
their homes to the Roman Empire? What did they do for a living? 

5. Where did the Goths live? Who taught them the Christian 
religion? When the Goths entered the Roman Empire what did 
they ask of the inhabitants? Did they destroy much? How many 
years separated the capture of Rome by Alaric from its capture by 
the Gauls? 

6. What tribes conquered England or Britain? What tribes 
conquered Roman Gaul or France? How long before Constantinople 
was captured? 

7. What was the effect of these raids and wars upon many cities? 
Who tried to keep fresh the memory of what the Greeks and the 
Romans had done? Who used the language of the Romans? 



EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 99 

8. Tell the story of the way the English became Christians. Who 
taught the Christian religion to many Germans? From what city 
did the Slavs receive missionaries? 

9. What different names are given to the inhabitants of Denmark, 
Norway, and Sweden who became rovers over the seas? Where did 
they make settlements? 

10. Tell the story of how Leif the Lucky discovered America. 
Why did the Northmen leave Vinland? 

EXERCISES 

1. Point out on the map all the places mentioned in this chapter. 

2. On an outhne map mark the names of the peoples mentioned 
in the chapter on the countries where they settled. 

3. Ask children in school who know some other language than 
English what are their names for England, Germany, France, Spain, 
and Italy. 

Important dates: 

Alaric's capture of Rome, 410 a.d. 

Discovery of America by the Northmen, 1000 a.d. 



CHAPTER XI 

HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 
THEMSELVES 

Heroes of the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages, like 
ADcient Times, are recalled by many interesting tales. 
Some of them, such as the stories of King Arthur and his 
Knights, the story of Roland, and the Song of the Nie- 
belungs, are only tales and not history. Others tell us 
about great kings, Charlemagne and St. Louis of France, 
Frederick the Redbeard of Germany, or St. Stephen of 
Hungary. The hero-king for England was Alfred, who 
fought bravely against the pirate Danes and finally 
conquered and persuaded many of them to live quietly 
under his rule. 

King Alfred began to reign in 871. King Alfred was 
a skilful warrior, but he was also an excellent ruler in 
time of peace. When he was a boy he had shown his love 
of books. His mother once offered a beautifully written 
Saxon poem as a prize to the one of her sons who should 
be the first to learn it. Alfred could not yet read, but 
he had a ready memory, and with the aid of his teacher 
he learned the poem and won the prize. 

At that time almost all books were written in Latin 
and few even of the clergy could read. During the 
long wars with the Danes m^.,ny books had been 

100 



HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 101 

destroyed. Men found battle-axes more useful than 
books and ceased to care about reading. King Alfred 
feared that the Saxons would soon become ignorant 
barbarians, and sent for priests and monks who were 
learned and were able to teach his clergy. He sent even 
into France for such men. 

Early English Books. As it would be easier for people 
to learn to read books written in the language they spoke 




EIST p^SAdN 



^^NyD^NINGAfVls^ 

tt^Tie f ttTreiv%C|ie]>eoienececeIirahaJ^u 
ycafh^ya ]><i fylf att nvb p6c fiepnjeaf foleun 

Extract from the Saxon Chronicle 

From a copy in the British Museum 

rather than in Latin, Alfred helped to translate several 
famous Latin books into English. Among these was a 
history written by a Roman before the Germans had 
overthrown the Roman Empire. This history told about 
the world of the Greeks and the Romans. 

Alfred commanded some of his clergy to keep a record 
from year to year of things which happened in his king- 
dom. This record was called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 
and was the first history written in the English language. 



102 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

It was carefully kept for many years after Alfred's death. 
Another wise thing Alfred did was to collect the laws or 
^^ dooms " of the earlier kings, so that every one might 
know what the law required. 

The Beginning of a Navy. Alfred has been called the 
creator of the English navy. He thought that the only 
way to keep the Danes from plundering his shores 
was to fight them on the sea. He built several ships 
which were bigger than the Danish ships, but they were 
not always victorious, for they could not follow the Danish 
ships into shallow water. Nevertheless, the Danes could 
not plunder Engld-nd as easily as before. 

The New Army. Alfred organized his fighting men 
in a better way. In times past the men had been called 
upon to fight only when the Danes were near, but now he 
kept a third of his men ready all the time, and another 
third he placed in forts, so the rest were able to work in 
the fields in safety. There are good reasons why 
Englishmen regard Alfred as a hero. 

William the Conqueror began to rule England in 1066. 
About a hundred and fifty years after Alfred died, William, 
duke of Normandy, crossed the Channel with an army, 
killed the English king in battle, and seized the throne. 
This was not altogether a misfortune to the English, for 
they came under the same ruler as the Normans and they 
shared in all that the men of the Continent were begin- 
ning to learn. For one thing, builders from the Continent 
taught the English to construct the great Norman churches 
or cathedrals which every traveler in England sees. 
Besides, William the Conqueror was a strong king and put 



HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 103 

down the chiefs or lords that were incUned to oppress 
the common people. 

Henry II. Henry II, one of William's successors, ruled 
over most of western France as well as over England. 
His officers and nobles were tired out by his endless 
traveling in his lands, which extended from the banks 
of the river Loire in France to the borders of Scotland. 




The Normans Crossing the English Channel 

From the Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered in the time of William the Conqueror. 
The figures are worked on a band of linen two hundred and thirty feet long, and 
twenty inches wide. Worsteds of eight colors are used 

All Englishmen and Americans should remember him with 
gratitude because of the improvements he made in the 
ways of discovering the truth when disputes arose and 
were carried into courts. 

Ordeals and Trials by Battle. Before Henry's reign 
it was the custom when a man was accused of a crime to 
find out the truth by arranging a wager of battle or what 
were called ordeals. The two most common ordeals 
were the ordeal by fire and the ordeal by water. In the 
ordeal by fire an iron was heated red-hot, and after it had 
been blessed by a priest it was put into the hand of the 



104 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



man the truth of whose word was being tested, and he 
had to carry it a certain number of feet. His hand was 
then bound up and left for three days. If at the end of 
that time the wound was heahng, men believed he was 
innocent, for they thought God would keep an innocent 
man from being punished. 

In the ordeal by water the man was tied and thrown 
into water which had been blessed by the priest. If he 




\ 



Trial by Battle 

After a drawing in an old manuscript 

was guilty, the people thought the water would not receive 
him. If he sank at once, he was pulled out and treated 
as if he had told the truth. 

A wager of battle was a fight between the two men 
whose dispute was to be settled, or between a man and 
his accuser. Each was armed with a hammer or a 
small battle-axe, and the one who gave up lost his case. 

Trial by Jury. King Henry introduced a better way 
of finding out the truth. He called upon twelve men from 
a neighborhood to come before the judges, to promise 
solemnly to tell what they knew about a matter, and then 
to decide which person was in the right. They were 



HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 105 

supposed to know about the facts, and they were allowed 
to talk the matter over with one another before they 
made a decision. 

Later these men from the neighborhood were divided 
into two groups, one to tell what they knew and the 
other to listen and decide what was true. Those who 
told what they knew were called the witnesses, and those 
who listened and decided were called jurors. The name 
jurors came from a Latin word meaning to take an oath. 

Richard the Lionhearted. King Henry had two sons, 
Richard and John. Richard was the boldest and most 
skilful fighter of his time. When the news was brought 
to England that Jerusalem had been captured by the 
Mohammedans, he led an army to Palestine to recap- 
ture it. He failed to take the city, but he became 
famous throughout the East as a fearless warrior and 
was ever afterwards called the " Lionhearted." At his 
death his brother John became king. He was as cowardly 
and wicked as Richard was brave and generous. 

The Great Charter. The leaders of the people, the 
nobles and the clergy, soon grew tired of John's wicked- 
ness. In 1215 they raised an army and threatened to 
take the kingdom from John and crown another prince 
as king. John was soon ready to promise anything in 
order to obtain power once more, and the nobles and 
bishops met him at Runnymede on the river Thames, a 
few miles west of London, and compelled him to sign a 
list of promises. As the list contained sixty- three separate 
promises, it was called the Great Charter or Magna 
Charta. If John did not keep these promises, the lords 



106 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

and clergy agreed to make war on him, and he even said 
that this would be their duty. 

Promises of the Charter. Many of the articles of 
the Great Charter were important only to the men of 
King John's day, but others are as important to us 
as to them. In these the king promised that every one 
should be treated justly. He said he would not refuse 



x^xBtt Ici^uJ'^u^Li^nJI, 




eoftxit. 




5f)<meJ6#t fllw^#t- 'M>riyp\ & 6!K)XTvi\^%r.i«^j 




A Portion of the Great Charter 

to listen to the complaints of those who thought they 
were wronged. The king also promised that he would 
not decide in favor of a rich man just because the rich 
man might offer him money. He would put no one in 
prison who had not been tried and found guilty by 
a jury. By another important promise the king said 
he would not levy new taxes without the consent 
of the chief men of the kingdom. This opened the way 
for the people to have something to say about how their 
money should be spent. This right is a very important 
part of what we call self-government. 

Promises of the Great Charter renewed. In after- 



HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 107 

times whenever the Enghsh thought a king was doing 
them a wrong they reminded him of the promises made 
by King John in the Great Charter and demanded that 
the promises be solemnly renewed. 

In 1265 a great noble named Simon de Montfort asked 
many towns to send a number of their chief men to meet 
with the nobles and clergy to talk over the conduct of 
the king. Others, even kings, soon followed Simon's 
example by asking the townsmen for advice about mat- 







Parliament House Westminster Hall Westminster Abbey 

Where Parliament Met in London in the Fifteenth Century 

ters of government. After a while this became the cus- 
tom. Occasionally the king wanted the advice of the 
clergy, the nobles, and the townsmen at the same time 
and called them together. The meeting was called a 
parliament, that is, an assembly in which talking or 
discussion goes on. 

The English Parliament. Only the most important 
nobles or lords could go in person to the assembhes, other- 
wise the meeting would be too large to do any business. 
The other lords chose certain ones from their number to 
go in place of all the rest. We call such men representa- 



108 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

tives. In this way, besides the men who represented the 
towns, there were present these nobles who represented 
the landowners of the counties. Gradually these nobles 
and the townsmen formed an assembly of their own, 
while the greater lords, the bishops, and abbots sat 
together in another assembly. The two assemblies were 
called the House of Commons and the House of Lords, 
and the two made up the parliament. 

An Assembly of Representatives. This parliament 
was a great invention. The English had discovered a 
better way of governing themselves than either the 
Greeks or the Romans. We call it the representative 
system. If a Roman citizen who lived far from Rome 
wanted to take part in the elections, he was obliged to 
leave his farm or his business and travel to Rome, for 
only the citizens who were at Rome could have a share in 
making the laws. It never occurred to the Romans that 
the citizens outside of Rome could send some of their 
number as representatives to Rome. The formation of 
the English parliament was an important step towards 
what we mean in America by '' government of the people, 
for the people, and by the people." 

QUESTIONS 

1. Mention the names of heroes or hero-kings of the Middle Ages. 
What stories have you learned about these heroes? 

2. Who was the hero-king of the English? How did he early 
show his love of books? What did he do to help his people to a knowl- 
edge of books? 

3. How did he succeed better than other kings in driving back the 
Danes? Why has he been called the creator of the Enghsh navy? 



HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 109 

4. What was the name of the Norman duke who conquered 
the EngHsh and ruled over them? Did this conquest hinder or 
help them? 

5. Why should we remember Henry II gratefuhy? Explain an 
ordeal and a trial by battle. How were the first juries formed and 
what did they do? How were they afterwards divided? 

6. For what was King Richard most celebrated? What sort of a 
king was his brother John? 

7. Why was the Charter which John was forced to grant called 
''Great"? Repeat some of its promises. Did the English soon 
forget these promises? 

8. Who asked the townsmen to send several of their number to 
talk over affairs with the clergy and the nobles? What was this body 
finally called? Into what two bodies was it divided? 

9. What is a "representative system"? Why was it an invention? 
What did the Romans do when they lived in towns distant from Rome 
and wanted to take part in elections or help make the laws? 

EXERCISES 

1. Learn and tell one of the King Arthur stories and a part of the 
story of the Niebelungs. Find a story about Charlemagne, Frederick 
the Redbeard, St. Louis, or St. Stephen. 

2. Collect pictures of war vessels, those of old times and those of 
to-day, and explain their differences. 

3. Find out how men nowadays decide whether an accused man is 
guilty. 

4. What is the name of the assembly in your state which makes 
the laws? What assembly at Washington makes the laws for the 
whole country? 



CHAPTER XII 
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 

What the English owed to their European Neighbors. 
If the English succeeded better than other Europeans in 
learning how to govern themselves, one reason was that 
the Channel protected them from attack, and they could 
quarrel with their king without running much risk that 
their enemies in other countries would take advantage 
of the quarrel to seize their lands or attempt to conquer 
them. 

The French were not so well placed. France also 
was not united like England, and whole districts called 
counties or duchies were almost independent of the king, 
being ruled by their counts and dukes. In France it 
would not have been wise for the people to quarrel with 
the king, for he was their natural protector against cruel 
lords. Germany and Italy were even more divided, with 
not only counties and duchies, but also cities nearly as 
independent as the ancient cities of Greece. 

The Europeans on the Continent did many things 
which the English were doing, and some of these were 
so well done that the English were ready to accept these 
Europeans as their teachers. The memory of what the 
Greeks and the Romans had done remained longer in 
southern France and Italy because so many buildings 

no 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 111 

were still standing which reminded Frenchmen and 
Italians of the people who built them,. 

Classes of People. The people of Europe, as well as 
of England, were divided into two classes, nobles and 
peasants. The clergy seemed to form another class 




A Monk Copying Manuscript Books 

because there were so many of them. Besides the parish 
priests and the bishops there were thousands of monks, 
who were persons who chose to dwell together in mon- 
asteries under the rule of an abbot or a prior, rather than 
hve among ordinary people where men were so often 
tempted to do wrong or were so likely to be wronged by 



112 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



others. The monks worked on the farms of the monas- 
teries, or studied in the Ubraries, or prayed and fasted. 
For a long time the men who knew how to read were 
nearly always monks or priests. Outside of the monas- 
teries or the bishops' houses there were few books. 
The Nobles. The nobles were either knights, barons, 

counts, or dukes. In 
England there were 
also earls. Many 
mediaeval nobles 
ruled like kings, but 
over a smaller terri- 
tory. They gained 
their power because 
they were rich in 
land and could sup- 
port many men who 
were ready to follow 
them in battle, or be- 
cause in the constant 
wars they proved 
themselves able to 
keep anything they 
took, whether it was 
a hilltop or a town. 
Timid and peaceable 
people were often 
glad to put them- 
selves under the protection of such a fighter, who saved 
them from being robbed by other fighting nobles. 




Plan of a Mediaeval Castle 

1. The Donjon-keep. 2. Chapel. 3. Stables. 4. In- 
ner Court. 5. Outer Court. 6. Outworks. 7. 
Mount, where justice was executed. 8. Soldiers' 
Lodgings 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 



113 



In this way the nobles served a good purpose until 
the kings, who were at first only very successful nobles, 
were able to bring nobles as well as peasants under their 
own rule and to compel every one to obey the same laws. 
After this the nobles became what we call an aristocracy, 



^1 ■%.iV^IWi'§- 




PlERREFONDS OnE OF THE GrEAT CaSTLES OF FrANCE 



proud of their family history, generally living in better 
houses and owning more land than their neighbors, but 
with little power over others. 

Castles. For safety, kings and nobles in the Middle 
Ages were obliged to build strong stone forts or fortified 
houses called castles. They were often placed on a hilltop 
or on an island or in a spot where approach to the walls 
could be made difficult by a broad canal, or moat, filled 
with water. At different places along the walls were 
towers, and within the outer ring of walls a great tower^ 



114 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

or keep, which was hard to capture even after the rest 
of the castle had been entered by the enemy. These 
castles were gloomy places to live in until, centuries later, 
their inner walls were pierced with windows. Many are 
still standing, others are interesting heaps of ruins. 

Knighthood. The lords of the castles were occupied 
mostly in hunting or fighting. They fought to keep 
other lords from interfering with them or to win for them- 
selves more lands and power. They hunted that they 
might have meat for their tables. In later times, when 
it was not so necessary to kill animals for food, they 
hunted as a sport. Fighting also ceased to be the chief 
occupation, although the nobles were expected to accom- 
pany the king in his wars. 

From boyhood the sons of nobles, unless they entered 
the Church as priests or monks, were taught the art of 
fighting. A boy was sent to the castle of another lord, 
where he served as a page, waiting on the lord at table 
or running errands. He was trained to ride a horse 
boldly and to be skilful with the sword and the lance. 
When his education was finished he was usually made 
a knight, an event which took place with many interesting 
ceremonies. 

The young man bathed, as a sign that he was pure. 
The weapons and arms for his use were blessed by a 
priest and laid on the altar of the church, and near them 
he knelt and prayed all night. In the final ceremony a 
sword was girded upon him and he received a slight blow 
on the neck from the sword of some knight, or perhaps 
of the king. His armor covered him from head to foot 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 115 



in metal, and sometimes his horse was also covered with 
metal plates. When he was fully armed, he was expected 
to show his skill to the lords and ladies who were present. 

The Duties of a Knight. The duties of the knight were 
to defend the weak, to protect women from wrong, to 
be faithful to his lord and king, 
and to be courteous even to an 
enemy. A knight true to these 
duties was called '^ chivalrous," 
a word which means very much 
what we mean by the word '^ gen- 
tlemanly." There were many 
wicked knights, but we must 
not forget that the good knights 
taught courtesy, faithfulness in 
keeping promises, respect for 
women, courage, self-sacrifice, 
and honor. 

The Peasants. Most of the 
people were peasants or townsmen. There were few 
towns, because many had been burned by the barbarian 
tribes which broke into the Roman Empire, or had been 
destroyed in the later wars. The peasants were crowded 
in villages close to the walls of some castle or monastery. 
They paid dearly for the protection which the lord of 
the castle or the abbot of the monastery gave them, for 
they were obliged to work on his lands three days or 
more each week, and to bring him eggs, chickens, and a 
little money several times a year. They also gave him 
a part of their harvest. 




A Knight in Armor 

Thirteenth century 



116 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Townsmen. At first the towns belonged to lords, 
or abbots, or bishops, but many towns drove out their 
lords and ruled themselves or received officers from the 
king. When they ruled themselves, their towns were 
called communes. The citizens agreed that whenever 
the town bell was rung they would gather together. 










'^c:^! 



^niT''*''^-^ 



^^'^^^^^^^.^^^^^^ 



View of Carcassonne 

This is an ancient city in France founded bv the Romans 



Any one who was absent was fined. For them " eternal 
vigilance was the price of liberty." Some of the belfries 
of these mediaeval towns are still standing, and remind 
the citizens of to-day of the struggles of the early days. 

The men of each occupation or trade were organized 
into societies or guilds, with masters, journeymen, and 
apprentices. There were guilds of goldsmiths, ironmong- 
ers, and fishmongers, that is, workers in gold and iron 
and sellers of fish. The merchants also had their guilds. 
In many towns no one was allowed to work at a trade 
or sell merchandise who was not a member of a guild. 



I 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 117 

Old Cities which still exist. Many of the towns which 
grew up in the Middle Ages are now the great cities of 
England and Europe. Their citizens can look back a 
thousand years and more over the history of their city, 
can point to churches, to town halls, and sometimes to 
private houses, that have stood all this time. They 
can often show the remains of mediaeval walls or broad 
streets where once these walls stood, and the moats that 
surrounded them. The traveler in York or London, 
in Paris, in Nuremberg, in Florence, or in Rome eagerly 
searches for the rehcs about which so many interesting 
stories of the past are told. 

Venice and Genoa. One of the most fascinating of 
these old cities is Venice, built upon low-lying islands two 
miles from the shore of Italy and protected by a sand bar 
from the waters of the Adriatic. Venice was founded 
by men and women who fled from a Roman city on the 
mainland which was ruined by the barbarians in the 
fifth century after Christ. In many places piles had to 
be driven into the loose sands to furnish a foundation 
for houses. The Venetians did not try to keep out the 
water but used it as streets, and instead of driving' in 
wagons they went about in boats. They grew rich in 
trade on the sea, as the Greeks had done in those same 
waters hundreds of years before. 

Farther down the coast of Italy were the cities Brin- 
disi and Taranto, the Brundusium and Tarentum of the 
Romans. Across the peninsula to the west was another 
trading city called Genoa, which was the birthplace of 
Columbus. 



118 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Modern Languages. While the people of mediaeval 
times were building city walls and towers to protect 
themselves they were also doing other things. Almost 
without knowing it they formed the languages which we 
now speak and write — English, German, French, Itahan, 
and Spanish. 

The English and German languages are closely related 
because the forefathers of the English emigrated to Eng- 
land from Germany, taking their language with them. 
This older language was gradually changed, but it still 
remained like German. Dutch is another language like 
both English and Gerrrian. 

There are many words in these languages borrowed 
from other peoples. Englishmen, because of their long 
union with western France, borrowed many words from 
the French. The French did not invent these words, 
for the French language grew out of the Latin language 
which the French learned from the Romans. 

How Modern Languages were formed. In English 
we have two sets of words and phrases: one is used in 
writing books or speeches, the other in conversation. 
When the Gauls learned Latin, the language of Rome, 
most of them learned the words used in conversation and 
did not learn the words of Roman books. Before long 
spoken words differed so much from the older written 
words that only scholars understood that the two had 
belonged to the same language. This new language was 
French. In the same way Italian and Spanish grew out 
of the ordinary Latin spoken in Italy and Spain. 

When men began to write books in the new languages. 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 



119 



the changes went on more slowly because the use of words 
in books kept the spelling the same. Men wrote less in 
Latin, but it was still used in the religious services of the 
Church and in the schools and universities. 



2^^i 






.^M 








Venice and the Grand Canal 

Schools in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages most 
boys and girls did not go to school. Education was 
principally for those who expected to become priests or 
monks. The schools were in the monasteries or in the 
houses or palaces of the bishops. The students were 
taught a little Latin grammar, to write or speak Latin, 
and to debate. They also learned arithmetic; enough 
astronomy to reckon the days on which the festivals of 
the Church should come; and music, so much as was 
then known of it. Printing had not been invented, so 



120 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

there were no text-books for them to study, and written 
books or manuscripts were too costly. Students Hstened 
to the teacher as he read from his manuscripts and copied 
the words or tried to remember them. 

The Beginning of Universities. If students remained 
in the schools after these things had been learned, they 
studied the laws of the Romans, or the practise of medi- 
cine, or the religious questions which are called theology. 
Some teachers talked in such an interesting way about 
such questions that hundreds of students came to listen. 
Like other kinds of workers, who were organized in soci- 
eties or guilds, the teachers and students formed a guild 
called a university. The teachers were the master-work- 
men, and the students were the apprentices. 

Where the Students lived. In the beginning the uni- 
versities had no buildings of their own, and the teachers 
taught in hired halls, the students boarding wherever 
they could find lodgings. Partly to help students who 
were too poor to pay for good lodgings, and partly to bring 
the students under the direct rule of teachers, colleges 
were built. These were not separate institutions like 
the American colleges, but simply houses for residence, 
although later some teaching was done in them. 

Some Famous Universities. The oldest university was 
in Bologna in Italy, and teachers began to explain the 
laws of the Romans to its students eight hundred years 
ago. The University of Paris was called the greatest 
university in the Middle Ages. Its students numbered 
sometimes between six and seven thousand. About the 
same time the English universities of Oxford and Cam- 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 



121 



bridge were formed, and there, many years later, a large 
number of the men who settled m America were educated. 
The Wisdom of the Arabs. Students in these univer- 
sities obtained several of the writings of the Greeks 
through the Arabs, the followers of Mohammed, who 
had conquered most of Spain. Long before Europeans 




View of New College, Oxford 

Built in the fourteenth century 

thought of founding universities the Arabs had flourishing 
schools and universities in Spain. The capital of the 
Mohammedan Empire was first at Bagdad on the 
Euphrates, where once ruled Haroun-al-Raschid, the 
hero of the tales of the Arabian Nights. 

What Europeans borrowed from the Arabs. The 
Arabs had learned much of geography and mathematics 
from the Greeks, and they also found out much for them- 
selves. The numerals which we use are Arabic; and 
algebra, one of our principal studies in mathematics, 



122 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 






was thought out by the Arabs. Their learned men were 
deeply mterested in the books of Aristotle, an ancient 

Greek, who had been a 
teacher of Alexander the 
Great. They translated 
his books into Arabic, 
and Christian students in 
Spain translated the Ara- 
bic into Latin. The great 
scholars at the University 
of Paris believed that 
Aristotle reasoned better 
than other thinkers, and 
took as their model the 
methods of reasoning 
found in this Latin trans- 
lation of an Arabic trans- 
lation of what Aristotle 
had written in Greek. 
Builders in the Middle Ages. The Greeks and the 
Romans had been great builders, but the men of the 
Middle Ages succeeded in building churches, town halls, 
and palaces or castles which equaled in grandeur and 
beauty the best that the ancient builders had made. 
The large churches or cathedrals seem wonderful because 
their builders were able to place masses of stone high in 
the air and to cover immense spaces with beautiful 
vaulted roofs. Builders nowadays imitate, but not often, 
if ever, equal them. Fortunately the original buildings 
are still standing in many English and European cities: 




The Alcazar at Seville 

Built by the Moors in the twelfth cen- 
tury. Note the elaborate decoration of the 
Moorish architecture 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 123 



in Canterbury, Durham, and Winchester; in Paris, Char- 
tres, and Rheims; in Cologne, Erfurt, and Strasbourg; 
in Barcelona and Toledo; in Milan, Venice, and Rome. 
Church Building. The Italians began by building 
churches like Roman basilicas. Roman arches and 




I 



Notre Dame in Paris 

View from the rear, showing the arches and buttresses 

domes, supported by heavy walls, were also used north 
of the Alps, and the method of building was named 
Romanesque, or in England, Norman. The architects 
or builders of western France discovered a way of roofing 
over just as large spaces without using such heavy walls, 
so that the interior could be lighted by larger win- 
dows. Instead of having rounded arches they used 
pointed arches. The walls between the windows were 
strengthened by masses of stone called buttresses. The 



124 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



peak of the roof of these cathedrals was sometimes more 
than one hundred and fifty feet above the floor. The 
glass of the windows showed in beautiful colors scenes 
from the Bible or from lives of sainted men and women. 
The outer walls, especially the western front, the door- 
ways, and the 
towers, were richly 
carved and 
adorned with stat- 
ues, and often 
with the figures of 
strange birds and 
beasts which lived 
only in the imagi- 
nation of the 
builders. This 
method of build- 
ing was named 
Gothic, and it was 
used not only for 
churches but for 

town halls and 
The Cathedral at Amiens . 

A typical Gothic interior priVate U O U S e S . 

Architects use similar methods of building nowadays. 

The Renaissance. Men who could build and adorn 
great churches and town halls and who were eager to 
study in the new universities should be called civihzed. 
The barbarous days were gone, but men still had much 
to learn from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Many 
of the ancient buildings were in ruins, the statues half 




THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 125 

buried or broken, the paintings destroyed, and the books 
lost. Men began to search for what was left of these 
things and to study them carefully to learn what the 
Graeco-Roman world had been like. After a while stu- 
dents could think of nothing else, and tried to imitate, if 
they could not surpass, what the Romans and the Greeks 







i ! vU -4 ^^'\ i ' ^^ d\ th fci.^i^^*i-M4r 



ifJiUMX'^^^ 




St. Peter's at Rome 

had done. The age in which men were first interested 
in these things is called the Renaissance or '' rebirth,'' 
because men were so unlike what they had been that 
they seemed born again. With the beginning of the 
Renaissance the Middle Ages came to an end. 

Petrarch. One of the earliest of these •' new " men was 
Petrarch, an Italian poet who lived in the fourteenth 
century, a hundred years before Columbus. He wished 
above all things to read, copy, and possess the writings 



126 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the Romans, and especially of Cicero, an orator and 
writer who lived in the days of Julius Caesar. Petrarch 
and his friends searched for the manuscripts of Roman 
authors which had been preserved, hidden away in 
monastery libraries. 

The same love of Roman books seized others, and princes 
spent large sums of money in collecting and copying 
ancient writings. At this time a beginning of the great 
libraries of Europe was made. Petrarch tried to learn 
Greek, but could find no one in Italy able to teach him. 

Greek Books brought again to Italy. Shortly after 
Petrarch died some Greeks came from Constantinople 
seeking the aid of the pope and the kings of the West in 
an attempt to drive back the Turks, who had already 
crossed into Europe and settled in the lands which they 
now occupy. Unless help should be sent to Constanti- 
nople, the city would certainly fall into their hands. 
With these Greeks was one of those men who still loved 
to read the writings of the ancient authors. He was 
persuaded to remain a few years in Florence and other 
Italian cities and teach Greek to the eager Italian scholars. 
He was also persuaded to write a grammar of the Greek 
language, in order that after he had returned to Constanti- 
nople others might be able to continue his teaching. 

Collectors of books now searched for Greek writings as 
eagerly as they had searched for Latin writings. Mer- 
chants sent their agents to Constantinople to buy books. 
One traveler and scholar brought back to Italy over two 
hundred. Soon Italy was the land to which students 
from Germany, France, and England went to learn 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 127 

Greek and to obtain copies of Greek books. It was 
fortunate that so many books had been brought from 
Constantinople, for at last, in 1453, the Turks captured 
that city and no place in the East was left where the 
books of the Greeks were studied as they had been at 
Constantinople. 




A Printing Office in the Fifteenth Century 

The Invention of Printing. After collectors of Greek 
and Roman writings had made several good hbraries, 
partly by purchase, partly by copying manuscripts 
belonging to others, a great invention was made which 
enabled these writings to be spread far and wide and 
placed in the hands of every student. This invention 
was the method of printing with movable types. It is 
not quite certain who made the invention, although John 
Gutenberg, of Mainz, in Germany, has generally been 
called the inventor. Probably several men thought of 
the method at about the same time, that is, about 1450. 



128 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Different Kinds of Type. In forming their type the 
German printers imitated the lettering made by copyists 
with a quill. Their type is called Gothic, and it is still 
widely used in German books. The Italian printers 
made their letters more round and simple in shape, 
imitating the handwriting of the best Italian copyists. 
This is the Roman type, in which many European peo- 
ples, as also the English and the Americans, print their 
books. The Italians also prepared a kind of lettering 
which, because they were the inventors, is named italic. 

The Aldine Press. One of the most famous printers 
of this early time was a Venetian named Aldus Manutius 
or Manucci. He gathered about him a number of Greeks 
and planned to print all the Greek manuscripts that had 
been discovered. This he did in beautiful type, imitated 
from the handwriting of one of his Greek friends. He 
sold the books for a price per volume about equal to our 
fifty cents, so that few scholars were too poor to buy. 

Some Early Printed Books. Another great printer 
was the Englishman William Caxton, who learned the art 
in the Netherlands. Among the books he printed was 
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The first book printed by 
Gutenberg was the Bible in Latin. Early in the sixteenth 
century, through the labors of a Dutch scholar, Erasmus, 
and of his printer, the German Froben, the New Testa- 
ment in Greek was printed. 

Architecture and Sculpture. The artists and the 
architects of this time began to imitate the buildings they 
found or that they unearthed. They used round arches 
and domes more than the pointed arches and vaulted 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 129 

roofs of the Gothic builders. Sculptors pictured in stone 
the stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes. 
Statues long buried in ancient ruins were dug up, and 
great artists like the Italian Michel Angelo studied them 
and rivaled them in the beautiful statues they cut. On 
every hand men's minds were awakened by what they 
saw of the work of the founders of the civiUzed world. 

t^m3 ^Btm t^mxi Sismt^ htH^ of t^ ont pat 

Thenne beganne agayne the bataylle of the one parte / And of th 
other Eneas ascryed to theym and sayd. hordes why doo ye f>ghte/ 
Ye knowe well that the couuenante ys deuysed and made / That Turnus 
and I shall fyghte for you alle / 

Facsimile of Part of Caxton's Aeneid (reduced) 

With the same in modern type 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why did the memory of the Greeks and Romans remain longer 
in France and Italy than in Germany and England? 

2. What different classes of people were there m the Middle Agesr 
What was the difference between a parish priest and a monk? 

3 How did the nobles gain a living? Were they useful? In what 
sorts of houses did they live? Describe a castle. What was the 

' ' keeo 

4 How were the sons of nobles trained? What was a page? How 
was a voung man made a knight? What were the duties of a kmght.^ 

5 Were the farmers or peasants prosperous and happy m the 
Middle Ages? How did the townsmen learn to protect themselves. 
What was a guild? Why are many Europeans proud of their cities . 

6. Why is Venice especially interesting? Why do we remember 
Genoa? 



130 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

7. From what language did French, Itahan, and Spanish grow? 
How were the changes made in the old language? Where did the 
English get their language? Was it just like the English we speak? 

8. What did the boys study in the Middle Ages? What did the 
word *' university" mean then? Name two or three universities 
founded then which still exist. What did the Arabs teach Christian 
students? 

9. What sort of buildings did men in the Middle Ages especially 
hke to build? Are these buildings still standing? Why do we admire 
these great churches? 

10. What do we call the time when men began to study once more 
Roman and Greek books, and began to imitate the ways of living and 
thinking common in the Graeco-Roman world? Who was the first 
of these ''new" men? Where especially did men search for Greek 
books? 

11. What invention helped men spread far and wide this new 
knowledge? How do the Germans come to have ''Gothic" type? 
Where do we get our Roman and italic type? What books cUd the 
Venetian printer Aldus print? Name a famous English and a famous 
German printer. 

12. What besides ancient books did the men of the Renaissance 
like to study and imitate? 

EXERCISES 

1. Find out what titles of noblemen are used now in different 
European countries. In what country are men often knighted? 
Why are they knighted? What title shows that a man is a knight? 

2. Collect pictures of armor and of castles, especially of castles 
still standing. Collect pictures of old town walls. 

3. Collect pictures of Venice and Genoa, especially from adver- 
tising folders. 

4. Find the names of several large American universities. Do the 
students live in "colleges" as students did in the Middle Ages? 

5. Tell one or two stories from the Arabian Nights. Collect 
pictures of Arabian costumes and of Arabian buildings in Spain, or 
Africa, or Asia. 

6. Collect pictures of English and European cathedrals. Find 
pictures of churches in America which resemble them. 



THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 131 



REVIEW 

Hoiv ancient civilization was preserved 

1. What ruined so many ancient cities? 

'2. Wlio tried to preserve the memory of what the Greeks and the 
Romans had done? 

3. What language did the churchmen continue to use? 

4. How did the missionaries help? 

5. How did Alfred teach the English some of the things the Romans 
had known? 

6. What did the Arabs teach the Christians which the Greeks had 
known? 

7. What was studied at Bologna? How did the universities help 
in preserving the ancient knowledge? 

8. What did Petrarch do to find lost books? What did other men 
of Petrarch's time do? 

9. What help came from the invention of printing? 

10. From what besides books did the men of the Renaissance 
learn about the Greeks and the Romans? 




Husbandman and Country Woman 
OF Fifteenth Century 



CHAPTER XIII 

TRADERS, TRAVELERS, AND EXPLORERS IN 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 

The Perils of Traders. There was a time in the Middle 
Ages when merchants scarcely dared to travel from one 
town to another for fear of being plundered by some 
robber lord or common thief. If they traveled by sea 
they might also be attacked by robbers. Some of these 
robbers, like the Northmen, came from afar, but others 
were ordinary sailors who put out from near-by ports 
when there seemed nothing better to do. 

This state of things gradually changed. The kings or 
great lords succeeded in protecting merchants on land, and 
the merchants armed vessels of their own to drive the 
pirates from the sea. As trade grew greater the towns 
became richer and stronger and the robbers and pirates 
fewer, so that the number of merchant ships increased 
rapidly and long voyages were attempted. 

Fairs. At first trade was carried on at great fairs, 
held in places convenient for the merchants of England 
and western Europe. The fairs lasted about six weeks, 
and one fair followed another. As soon as the first was 
over the merchants packed their unsold wares and 
journeyed to the next. At the fairs were found drugs and 
spices, cottons and silks from the East, skins and furs 

132 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 133 

from the North, wool from England, and other products 
from Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. 

The Treasures of the East. Men in the Middle Ages 
were dependent for luxuries upon the lands of Asia which 
are commonly called the East. By this name we may 
mean Persia, Arabia, India, China, or the Molucca Islands, 
where the choicest spices still grow. Spices were a great 
luxury, and were needed to flavor the food, because the 








Trader's Caravan Crossing the Desert 



manner of cooking was poor and there was little variety 
in the kinds of food. Most of the cotton cloth, the silks, 
the drugs, and the dyes were also procured from the East. 
Routes to the East. No one knew that it was possible 
to reach Asia by sailing around the southern point of 
Africa or through what is called the Strait of Magellan. 
The products of the East were brought to Europe by 
several routes, two reaching the Mediterranean at Alex- 



134 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



andria, in Egypt, a third at Antioch, in Syria, and a 
fourth on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. 

The loads were carried by camels in long caravans 
across the deserts from the Red Sea, or the Persian Gulf, 
or from northern India. Ships from the Italian cities 
of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice struggled with one another 




MAP OF TRADE K(H Ti:S 
L\ THE MIUOLK AGES 

LAND ROUTES TO THE EAST. _-H-+ -t 
LAND ROUTES IN EUROPE. 
VENETIAN WATER ROUTE.. 
GENOESE WATER ROUTE.. 



for the right to bring back these precious wares and sell 
them to the merchants of Europe, who were ready to pay 
high prices. 

Venetian Traders. Merchants from Germany came to 
Venice to trade the products of the North for spices, 
drugs, dyes, and silks, which they carried back across 
the Alps. Once a year the Venetians sent a fleet of vessels 
westward through the straits of Gibraltar and along the 
Atlantic shore as far as Bruges and London. The voy- 
age was long and dangerous, and the Venetians traded 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 135 

in ports on the way. Spices in Bruges sold for two or 
three times what they cost in Venice. 

The Crusades. One event that brought to the Vene- 
tians an opportunity to enrich themselves was the Cru- 
sades. The Mohammedans had long held a large part 
of Spain, and towards the end of the eleventh century 
they threatened France and Italy. They also attacked 
what was left of the Roman Empire in the East, and the 
emperors sent to the pope and the western kings frantic 
appeals for help. Thousands of Frenchmen, Germans, 
Englishmen, and Italians were suddenly seized with the 
desire to go to Palestine and drive the Mohammedans 
from Jerusalem, the Holy City, and from the tomb of 
Christ. For the next two centuries large armies were 
sent there, sometimes gaining victories, sometimes being 
defeated in battle or overcome by disease. 

What the Venetians gained from the Crusades. Most 
of the Crusaders went to the Holy Land by sea, and when 
they had no ships of their own they often took passage in 
Venetian ships. The Venetians asked large sums for 
this, and also succeeded in obtaining all the rights of trade 
in many of the seaports which were captured. Sometimes - 
the Venetians undertook to govern islands like Cyprus 
and Crete, or territories along the coasts, but their main 
aim was to increase their trade rather than to build up an 
empire. 

The new Venetian Ships. The Crusaders w^ho returned 
to Europe brought back a liking for the luxuries of the 
East, and their tales made other men eager for them. For 
this reason more ships were built to sail in the Mediterra- 



136 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



nean. The shipowners attempted to make their ships 
larger and stronger. They were larger than those built 
by the English or by other peoples along the Atlantic 
coast, but they would seem small to us. There is an 
account of Venetian ships in the thirteenth century which 
tells us that they were one hundred and ten feet long 
and carried crews of one thousand men. They relied 
mainly upon the use of oars, but had a mast, sometimes 
two masts, rigged with sails, which they could use if the 
wind was favorable. 



'Y, 





Venetian Ships 



Dangers of the Sea. One difficulty about sailing was 
the lack of any means in cloudy weather, and especially 
at night, of telling the direction in which they were going. 
The sailors did not like to venture far from shore, although 
the open sea is safer during a storm than a wind-swept 
and rocky coast. At the time when the sailors of the 
Mediterranean were building up their trade to Alexandria, 
Antioch, and the Black Sea, two instruments came into 
use which enabled them to tell just where they were. 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 



137 




Mariner's Compass 



The Compass. One of these instruments was the com- 
pass, which the Chinese had long used, and which was 
known to the Arabs before the Europeans heard of it. 
If a boy will take a needle, rub its 
point with a magnet, and lay the 
needle on a cork floating in water, he 
will have a rough sort of compass. 
The point of the needle wherever it 
may be turned will swing back towards 
the north, thus guiding the sailors. 

The compass was known in Europe about 1200. There 
is a story that at first sailors thought its action due to 
magic and refused to sail under a captain who used it. 
But a century later it was in general use, and had been 

so much improved that even in 
the severest storms the needle re- 
mained level and pointed steadily 
towards the north. 

The Astrolabe. The other in- 
strument, called the astrolabe, was 
a brass circle marked off into 360 
degrees. To this circle were fas- 
tened two movable bars, at the 
ends of which were sights, or pro- 
jecting pieces pierced by a hole. 
The astrolabe was hung on a mast 
in such a way that one bar was 
horizontal and the other could be moved until through 
its sights some known star could be seen. The number 
of degrees marked on the circle between the two bars told 




An Astrolabe 



138 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

how high the star was above the horizon, and the sailors 
could reckon the latitude of the place where they were. 
In a similar way their longitude could be found out. 

The astrolabe was not so useful as the compass, for 
it could be used only on clear days or nights. With these 
two instruments it was possible to sail far out into the 
Atlantic. By the middle of the fourteenth century ships 
from Genoa and Portugal had visited the Madeira and 
the Canary Islands, and even the Azores which are a 
thousand miles from the mainland. 

What Men thought about a Sea Route to the East. 
Men learned more about other strange lands through a 
Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, who wrote an account of 
his wonderful journey to the court of the Grand Khan, 
or Emperor of the Mongols, of his travels through China, 
and of his return to Persia by sea. 

Many men in the Middle Ages had believed that east 
of Asia was a great marsh, and that because of it even 
if they succeeded in sailing around Africa it would be 
impossible to reach the region of the spices and silks and 
jewels which they so much desired. They also thought 
that the heat in the tropics was so intense that at a certain 
distance down the coast of Africa they would find the 
water of the ocean boiling. These things and the tales 
of strange monsters that inhabited the deep sea had terri- 
fied them. The news which Marco Polo brought changed 
this feeling. 

The Mongols. The way Marco Polo happened to visit 
the court of the Mongol emperor was this. The Mongol 
Tartars were great conquerors, and they not only subdued 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 139 



the Chinese but marched westward, overrunning most of 
Russia and stopping only when they were on the frontiers 
of Italy. For a long time southern Russia remained under 
their rule. Their capital was just north of the Great 
Wall of China. 

The Mongol emperor did not hate Europeans, and even 
sent to the pope for missionaries to teach his people. 
Marco Polo's father and uncle 
while on a trading expedition 
had found their way to his court, 
and on a second journey, in 1271, 
they took with them Marco, a 
lad of seventeen years. The 
emperor was much interested in 
his western visitors and took 
young Marco into his service. 

Marco Polo's Travels. Marco 
Polo traveled over China on offi- 
cial errands, while his father and 

uncle were gathering wealth by trade. After many years 
they desired to return to Italy, but the emperor was 
unwilling to lose such able servants. It happened, how- 
ever, that the emperor wished to send a princess as a 
bride to the Khan or Emperor of Persia, also a Mongol 
sovereign, and the three Polos, who were known to be 
trustworthy seamen, were selected to escort the princess 
to her royal husband. After doing this they did not 
return to China, but went on to Italy. 

They had been absent twenty-four years, and they 
found that their relatives had given them up for dead and 




The Mongol Emperor of 
Marco Polo's Time 

After an old Chinese manuscript 



140 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



did not recognize them. It was like the old story of 
Ulysses, who, when he returned to his native Ithaca after 
his wanderings, was recognized by nobody. The Polos 
proved the truth of what they said by showing the great 
treasures which they had sewed into the dresses of coarse 




Map of Marco Polo's Travels 

The known world is in white, the undiscovered in black, and that first described 
by Marco Polo is dotted 

stuff of a Tartar pattern which they wore. They dis- 
played jewels of the greatest value, diamonds, emeralds, 
rubies, and sapphires. 

What Marco Polo told. In the account Marco Polo 
wrote of his travels and of the countries he had visited 
he described a wonderful palace of the Great Emperor. 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 141 

Its walls were covered with gold and silver, the dining hall 
seated six thousand people, and its ceiling was inlaid with 
gold. This palace seemed to Marco Polo so large, so 
rich, and so beautiful that no man on earth could design 
anything to equal it. ' The robes of the emperor and his 
twelve thousand nobles and knights were of silk and 
beaten gold, each having a girdle of gold decorated with 
precious stones. 

Marco Polo told of great cities in China where men 
traded in the costly wares of the East, and where silk 
was abundant and cheap. He described from hearsay 
Japan as an island fifteen hundred miles from the main- 
land. Its people, he said, were white, civilized, and 
wondrously rich. The palace of the emperor of Japan 
was roofed with gold, its pavements and floors were of 
solid gold, laid in plates two fingers thick. 

Reasons for finding a Sea Route to the East. Tales 
of such great wealth made Europeans more eager than 
ever to reach the East. Marco Polo had shown that it 
was possible to sail past India, through the islands, to the 
eastern coast of Asia. When priitting was invented his 
account was printed, and the copy of that book which 
Columbus owned is still preserved. Upon its margins 
Columbus wrote his own opinions about geography. 

Other travelers besides the Polos returned with similar 
tales of the East. Soon, however, all chance to go there 
by way of the land was lost, because the Mongol emperors 
were driven out of China and the new rulers would not 
permit Europeans to enter the country. The ordinary 
caravan routes to the East were also closed not long 



142 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



afterwards. In 1453 the Turks captured Constantinople, 
drove away the Italian merchants, and prevented Euro- 
pean sailors from reaching the Black Sea. Fifty years 
later the Turks seized Egypt and closed that route also. 
Fortunately before this happened a better route had been 
discovered. 

The Portuguese Sailors. During the Middle Ages 
the Portuguese princes fought to recover Portugal from 
the Moors. When this was done they were eager to cross 

the straits and attack 
the Moors in Africa. 
Prince Henry of Portu- 
gal made an expedition 
to Africa and returned 
with the desire to know 
more about the coast 
south of the point be- 
yond which European 
sailors dared not ven- 
ture. Sailors were afraid of being lost in the Sea of 
Darkness or killed by the heat of the boiling tropics. 

From his love of exploring the seas Prince Henry has 
been called ''The Navigator." He took up his residence 
on a lonely promontory in southern Portugal, and gathered 
about him learned men of all peoples, Arabian and Jew- 
ish mathematicians, and Italian mapmakers. Captains 
trained in this new school of seamanship were sent into 
the southern seas. Each was to sail farther down the 
western coast of Africa than other captains had gone. 
Before Prince Henry died in 1460 his captains had passed 




Dangers of the Sea of Darkness 

From an old picture 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 143 



Cape Verde, and ten years later they crossed the equator 
without suffering the fate which men had once feared. 
But they were discouraged when they found that beyond 
the Gulf of Guinea the coast turned southward again, for 
they had hoped to sail eastward to Asia. 




The Portuguese Route to India 

The broken lines show the old trade routes to the East. The solid line shows the 
new Portuguese route 

Cape of Good Hope discovered. At last in 1487 the 
end of what seemed to be an endless coast was reached. 
The fortunate captain who accomplished this was Bar- 
tholomew Diaz, who came of a family of daring seamen. 
He had been sailing southward along the coast for nearly 
eight months, when a northerly gale drove him before 



144 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

it for thirteen days. The weather cleared and Diaz 
turned eastward to find the coast. As he did not see land 
he turned northward and soon discovered land to the west. 
This showed that he had passed the southern point of 
Africa. His crew were unwilling to go farther and he 
followed the coast around to the western side again. The 
southern point he called the Cape of Storms, but the king 
of Portugal, when the voyagers returned, named it the 
Cape of Good Hope, for now he knew that an expedition 
could be sent directly to the Indies. 

Diaz had sailed thirteen thousand miles, and his voyage 
was the most wonderful that Europeans had ever heard 
about. 

The Sea Route to India. Eleven years later the Por- 
tuguese king sent Vasco da Gama, another captain, to 
attempt to reach the coast of India by sailing around 
the Cape of Good Hope which Diaz had discovered. Da 
Gama was successful and landed at Calicut on the south- 
western coast of India. He returned to Portugal in 1499, 
and his cargo was worth sixty times the cost of the voyage. 
This was the beginning of a trade with the East which 
enriched Portugal and especially the merchants of Lisbon. 

QUESTIONS 

1 . What dangers threatened traders in the Middle Ages who trav- 
eled by sea or land ? What was a fair ? 

2. What products were brought from the East ? By what routes ? 
Point these out on a map. What rival trading cities were in Italy? 
How did the Venetians get their wares to London ? 

3. Who were the Crusaders ? Why did they attack the Moham- 
medans ? What did the Venetian traders gain by these wars ? De- 
scribe a large Venetian ship of this time. 



TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 145 

4. When was the compass invented ? Why was it dangerous to 
sail great seas and oceans without a compass ? Tell how an astrolabe 
was made. 

5. What at first kept men from attempting to sail to eastern Asia ? 
Who was Marco Polo ? Describe his adventures. How did he return 
to Venice ? How did people learn about the lands he had visited ? 

6. Why after 1453 was it necessary to find a sea route to Asia? 
What did Prince Henry the Navigator succeed in doing ? How was the 
Cape of Good Hope discovered ? Who went with Diaz on this voyage ? 

7. Who first sailed to India by the Cape of Good Hope? Was 
the voyage profitable ? What city was made rich by the new trade ? 

EXERCISES 

1. Find from a map in the geography how many miles goods must 
have been carried to reach Venice from Persia, India, the Moluccas, 
or China. How far is it from Venice by sea to Bruges or London ? 

2. Where and how do we now" obtain cinnamon, nutmeg, and 
cloves ? 

3. What line of emperors has been recently ruling over China? 
Where has been their capital ? Find out about the present Mongols. 
Collect pictures of China and Japan. 

4. Read a longer account of Marco Polo. 

5. Study the geography of Portugal. Collect pictures of Portu- 
gal. Find out if many Portuguese are living in the United States. 

REVIEW 

Steps Towards the Discovery of America 

Greek colonies in Italy, Gaul, and Spain. 

Roman conquest of Gaul, Spain, and Britain. 

Viking voyages to Greenland and Vinland. 

Venetian trade in spices with the East, and Venetian voyages to 
London and Bruges. 

Marco Polo's travels in China and the East. 

Portuguese voyages down the coast of Africa and about the Cape 
of Good Hope. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 

Christopher Columbus. Six years before Vasco da 
Gama made his famous voyage to India around Africa 
and opened a new trade route for the Portuguese mer- 
chants, another seaman had formed and carried out a 
much bolder plan. This was Christopher Columbus, 
and his plan was to sail directly west from Europe into 
the unknown ocean in search of new islands and the 
coast of Asia. Columbus, who was a native of Genoa 
in Italy, had followed his younger brother to Portugal. 
Both were probably led there by the fame of Prince 
Henry's explorations. 

The brothers became very skilful in making maps and 
charts for the Portuguese. They also frequently sailed 
with them on their expeditions along the coast of Africa. 
All the early associations of Columbus were with men 
interested in voyages of discovery, and particularly with 
those engaged in the daring search for a sea route to India. 

How Columbus formed his Plan. Columbus gathered 
all the information on geography which he could from 
ancient writers and from modern discoverers. Many of 
them believed that the world was shaped like a ball. If 
such were its shape, Columbus reasoned, why might not 
a ship sail around it from east to west? Or, better, why 

146 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 



147 




not sail directly west to India, and perhaps find many 
wonderful islands between Europe and Asia? His imagi- 
nation was also fired by 
Marco Polo's description of 
the marvelous riches of 
China, Japan, and the Spice 
Islands. But the idea of 
going directly west into the 
midst of the unknown and 
seemingly boundless waste 
of water, and on and on to 
Asia, appeared to most men 
of the fifteenth century to be 
madness. 

His Notion of the Distance 
to Asia. Columbus made 
two fortunate errors in reck- 
oning the distance to the 

Indies. He imagined that Asia extended much farther 
eastward than it actually does, making it nearer Europe, 
and estimated the earth to be smaller than it is. His 
figures placed Japan less than 3,000 miles west of the 
Canary Islands, instead of the 12,000 miles which is the 
real distance. He accordingly thought Japan would be 
found about where Mexico or Florida is situated. 

How he secured Help. Even so, many years passed 
before Columbus was able to undertake a voyage. He 
was too poor himself, and needed the help of some govern- 
ment to fit out such an expedition. He may have tried 
to get his native city, Genoa, to help him. There is 



Christopher Columbus 

The oldest known picture of Columbus, 
in the National Library, Madrid 



148 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

such a story. If he did, it was without success. He 
tried to obtain the help of Portugal, where he lived a 
long time, and whose princes were greatly interested in 
the discovery of new trade routes. His brother visited 
England in the same cause. Neither of these countries, 
however, was willing to undertake this expensive and 
doubtful enterprise. 

The King and Queen of Spain, to whom Columbus 
turned, kept him waiting many years for an answer. 
They thought that they had more important work in 
hand. There was another king in Spain at the time, the 
king of the Moors. Ferdinand and Isabella, the Christian 
king and queen, were trying to conquer the Moors, and 
thus to end the struggle between Christians and Mo- 
hammedans for the possession of Spain, which had lasted 
nearly eight centuries. This war required all the strength 
and revenue of Spain. 

Fortunately, just as Columbus was becoming thor- 
oughly discouraged, the war with the Moors came to 
an end. Granada, the seat of their former power, was 
finally taken in January, 1492. Now was a good time 
to ask favors of the sovereigns of Spain, and to plan 
large enterprises for the future. Powerful friends aided 
Columbus to renew his petition, and Queen Isabella was 
persuaded to promise him all the help that he needed. 

The Ships of Columbus. Three ships, or caravels as 
they were called, were fitted out. The Santa Maria was 
the largest of the three, but it was not much larger than 
the small sailing yachts which we see to-day. It was 
about ninety feet long by twenty feet broad, and had a 



150 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

single deck. This was Columbus's principal ship or flag- 
ship. The second caravel, the Pinta, was much swifter, 
built high at the prow and stern, and furnished with a 
forecastle for the crew and a cabin for the officers, but 
without a deck in the center. The third and smallest 
caravel, called the Nina, the Spanish word for baby, 
was built much like the Pinta. Ninety persons made 
up the three crews. 

The ships were the usual size of those which coasted 
along the shores of Europe in the fifteenth century. 
Expeditions had never gone far out into the ocean. 
Columbus preferred the smaller vessels in a voyage of 
discovery, because they would be able to run close to the 
shores and into the smaller harbors and up the rivers. 

Beginning of the Voyage. The expedition set sail from 
Palos in Spain, August 3, 1492. It went directly to the 
Canary Islands. These were owned by Spain, and were 
selected by Columbus as the most convenient starting- 
point. The little fleet was delayed three weeks at the 
islands making repairs. On September 6 Columbus was 
off again. He struck due west from the Canaries. 

The Terrors of the Voyage. While the little fleet was 
still in sight of the Canary Islands a volcanic eruption 
nearly frightened the sailors out of their wits. They 
deemed such an event an omen of evil. But the expedi- 
tion had fine weather day after day. Steady, gentle, 
easterly winds, the trade winds of the tropics, wafted 
them slowly westward. But the timid sailors began to 
wonder how they would ever be able to return against 
winds which seemed never to change from the east. 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 



151 



Then they came to an immense field of seaweed, 
larger in area than the whole of Spain. This terrified the 
sailors, who feared they might be driven on hidden rocks 
or be engulfed in quicksands. They imagined, too, that 
great sea-monsters were lurking beyond the seaweed 
waiting to devour them. 




A Caravel of Columbus 

After the reconstructed model exhibited at the Columbian 
Exposition, Chicago, 1893 

The first Signs of a New Land. In spite of fears and 
complaints, and threats of resistance, Columbus kept a 
westward course for more than four weeks. Then as he 
began to see so many birds flying to the southwest, 
he concluded that land must be nearer in that direction. 
He had heard that most of the islands held by the Portu- 
guese were discovered by following the flight of birds. 
So on October 7 the westward course was changed to 
one slightly southwest. 

From this time on the signs of land grew frequent. 



152 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Floating branches, occasionally covered with berries, 
pieces of wood, bits of cane, were encouraging signs. 
Birds like ducks and sandpipers became common sights. 
The Queen had promised a small pension to the one who 
should first see land. Columbus had offered to give a 
silken doublet in addition. With what eagerness the 
sailors must have kept on the lookout! 

The great Discovery. At last as the fleet was sailing 
onward in the bright moonlight Columbus saw a light 
moving as if carried by hand along a shore. A few hours 
later, about two o'clock on the morning of October 12, a 
sailor on the Pinta saw land distinctly, and soon all be- 
held, a few miles away, a long, low beach. The vessels 
hove to and waited for daylight. Early the same day, 
Friday, October 12, 1492, they approached the land, 
which proved to be a small island. Columbus named it 
San Salvador, which means Holy Saviour. We do not 
know which one of the Bahama islands he first saw, but 
we believe it was the one now called Watling Island. 
Columbus went ashore with the royal standard and ban- 
ners flying to take possession of the land in the name of 
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 

Where Columbus thought he was. The astonished 
inhabitants of the island soon gathered to see the strange 
sight — the landing of white men in the West Indies. 
They looked upon the ships as sea-monsters, and the 
white men as gods. Nor was Columbus less puzzled by 
what he saw. The people were a strange race — cinna- 
mon colored, naked, greased, and painted to suit each 
one's fancy. They had only the rudest means of self- 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 



153 



defense, and were almost as poor as the parrots that 
chattered in the trees above them. Such savages bore 
Httle resemblance to the people whom Marco Polo said 
inhabited the Spice Islands. 

Columbus thought that he had reached some outlying 
island not far from Japan. A cruise of a few days 
among the Bahamas satisfied him that he was in the 
ocean near the coast of Asia, for had not Marco Polo 




described it as studded with thousands of spice-bearing 
islands? He had not found any spices, but the air was 
full of fragrance and the trees and herbs were strange in 
appearance. Of course if the islands were the Indies, 
the people must be Indians. Columbus called them 
Indians, and this name clung to the red men, although 
their islands were not the true Indies. 

The Search for the Golden East. Columbus thought 
that the natives meant to tell him in their sign language 
of a great land to the south where gold abounded. He set 
off in search of this, and came upon a land the natives 
called Cuba. Its large size convinced him that he had 
at last found the Asiatic mainland, and he sent two 



154 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

messengers, one a Jew knowing many languages, in search 
of the Emperor of China. They found neither cities nor 
kingdoms, neither gold nor spices. This was a great 
disappointment to Columbus, but he patiently kept up 
his search for the riches which he expected to find. 

The Misfortunes of Columbus. While on the coast of 
Cuba, Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, deserted him. 
Pinzon, whose ship was swifter than the others, probably 
wished to be the first to get home, in order to tell a story 
which would gain him the credit of the discovery of the 
Indies. A few days later Columbus discovered a large 
island which the natives called Hayti, and which he 
called Espafiola or ''Spanish Land." At every island he 
searched for the spices and gold which Marco Polo had 
given him reason to expect. In a storm off Espafiola 
Columbus's own ship, the Santa Maria, was totally 
wrecked. Such disasters convinced him that it was 
high time to return to Spain with the news of his dis- 
covery. 

Preparations for Return to Spain. As there was not 
room for both crews on the tiny Nina, his one remaining 
ship, it became necessary to leave about forty sailors in 
Espafiola. A fort was built, and supplies were left for a 
year. Columbus with the rest set off on the return to 
Spain. Ten Indians were captured and taken with them 
to show to his friends in Europe. Besides, Columbus 
hoped that they would learn the language of Spain, and 
carry Christianity back to their people. 

The Search for China renewed. There was rejoicing 
in Palos when the voyagers returned. Great honors 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 155 



ATLANTIC 



SAN SALVADOR 



^/ OCEAN 



PORTO RICO 




{SOUTH SEA) 



100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 

Scale of Miles 
Lands discovered by Columbus are in solid black 



Map of Lands Discovered by Columbus 

were bestowed upon Columbus. It was now easy to get 
men and money for another voyage. In September, 
1493, Columbus started to return to his islands, this 
time with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, 



156 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

all confident that they would soon see the marble 
palaces of China, and secure a share in the wealth 
of the Spice Islands. No one yet realized that a 
new world — two great continents — lay between them 
and their coveted goal in Asia. Columbus went di- 
rectly to Espafiola, where he found that his colony of 
the previous year had been murdered by the Indians. 
A new settlement was quickly started. A little town 
called Isabella was built, with a fort, a church, a market 
place, pubhc granary, and dwelling-houses. Isabella 
was the first real settlement in the New Worjd. 

Other Voyages to the New World. Columbus made 
two other voyages. He continued to search for the coast 
of Asia, which he believed to be near. He made a third 
voyage from Spain to the West Indies in 1498. He sailed 
farther south, and came upon the mainland which later 
was called South America. A fourth expedition in 1502 
touched on the coast that we call Central America. He 
died soon after this voyage, still beheving that he had 
discovered a new route to the Indies and new lands on 
the coast of Asia. 

The sad End of Columbus's Life. The close of his life 
was a sad one. The lands he had found did not yield 
the riches which he had expected. The colonists whom 
he had sent out to the islands had rebelled, and jealous 
enemies had accused him falsely before the king and queen 
of misgovernment in his territories. Once his opponents 
had him carried to Spain chained like a common prisoner. 
He was given his liberty on reaching Spain, but the 
people had become prejudiced against him. 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 



157 



Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, tells us that as he 
and his brother Diego, who were pages in the queen's 
service, happened to 
pass a crowd of his 
father's enemies, the 
latter greeted them 
with hoots: ^' There 
go the sons of the 
Admiral of Mosqui- 
toland, the man who 
has discovered a 
land of vanity and 
deceit, the grave of 
Spanish gentlemen. ' ' 
Hardships and dis- 
appointments broke 
down the great dis- 
coverer, and he died 
neglected and almost _j:;^ 
forgotten by the 
people 01 fepam. The Columbus Monument at Genoa 




QUESTIONS 

1. What plan did Columbus form ? Why was it bolder than the 
plan Diaz had carried out in 1487, or even than that Da Gama 
carried out a few years later ? Why did men like Columbus and Diaz 
desire to find a sea route to India ? Had anybody before Columbus 
believed the earth round ? 

2. What mistake did Columbus make in estimating the size of the 
earth ? Why was this a fortunate error ? 



158 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

3. From what countries did Columbus try to obtain help ? Why- 
did he find it so hard to secure this ? What event in Spain finally 
favored his cause ? Who were the Moors ? 

4. Why was Columbus surprised when he saw the natives in the 
West Indies ? Why were the Indians on their side surprised ? 

5. What islands did Columbus find and claim for Spain on his first 
voyage ? How many other voyages did he make ? What new lands 
did he find on his later voyages ? What did he think he had found ? 

6. Why did the enemies of Columbus in Spain call him the Admiral 
of Mosquitoland, the man who discovered a land of vanity and deceit, 
the grave of Spanish gentlemen ? What did they mean by this ? 

EXERCISES 

1. Find pictures of the ships of Columbus or of the sailing ships of 
other explorers of that day. How does the deck arrangement on those 
differ from the ocean steamships of to-day ? What advantage would 
ships like those of Columbus have over present steamships in exploring 
strange coasts ? What disadvantages ? 

2. Draw up a list of reasons why Columbus's sailors were afraid 
to go on and wished to turn back to Spain. 

3. Trace on an outline map the voyage of Columbus. Mark 
where Columbus found land, and where he expected to find Japan and 
China. What great mass of land was really very near the island he 
first discovered ? (See map, page 149.) 

4. Find from the maps on page 33 (Greek World) , page 65 (Roman 
World), page 140 (The world after Polo's journey), and page 155 (The 
world as known after Columbus), how much more the Romans knew 
of the world than the Greeks had known, the Europeans after Marco 
Polo's journey than the Romans, and the Europeans after Columbus's 
voyage than after Marco Polo's journey. 

Important Date — 1492. The discovery of America by Columbus. 



CHAPTER XV 

OTHERS HELP IN THE DISCOVERY 
OF THE NEW WORLD 

The Race to the Indies. The discovery of all the lands 
which make what we call the New World came very 
slowly. It was the work of many different explorers. 
Most of the expeditions sent out to the new islands went 
in search of a passage to India. It was a fine race. 
Each nation was eager to see its ships the first to reach 
India by the westward route. All were disappointed at 
finding so much land between Europe and Asia. It 
seemed to them to be of little value and to block the 
way to the richer countries of the East. Gradually, how- 
ever, they discovered the great continents which we know 
as North and South America. Columbus had done more 
than he dreamed, and his discovery was a turning-point 
in history. 

John Cabot. John Cabot, an Italian mariner at this 
time in the service of England, left Bristol in 1497 on a 
voyage of discovery. This was five years after Columbus 
discovered the West Indies. Cabot had heard that the 
sailors of Portugal and of Spain had occupied unknown 
islands. He planned to do the same for King Henry VII 
of England. For his voyage he had a single vessel no 
larger than the Nina, the smallest ship in the fleet of 

159 



160 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



Columbus. Eighteen men made up his crew. He passed 
around the southern end of Ireland, and sailed north and 
west until he came to land, which proved to be the coast 
of North America somewhere between the northern part 
of Labrador and the southern end of Nova Scotia. 

Cabot's Discovery. John Cabot saw no inhabitants, 
but he found notched trees, snares for game, and needles 

for making nets, which showed 
plainly that the land was in- 
habited by human beings. 
Like Columbus, Cabot thought 
he was off the coast of China. 
The Cabot Voyages forgot- 
ten. Before the end of 1497 
John Cabot was back in Bris- 
tol. It is almost certain that 
he and his son, Sebastian Cabot, 
made a second voyage to the 
new found lands in the follow- 
ing year. The Cabot voyages, 
however, were soon almost forgotten by the people of 
England. 

The Naming of the New Lands. Why was our country 
named America rather than Columbia or New India? 
Both the southern and northern continents which we 
call the Americas were named for Americus Vespucius 
rather than for Christopher Columbus. This seems the 
more strange since we know so little about the life of 
Americus. Americus Vespucius was born in Florence, 
Italy, and like many other young Italians of that day 




Sebastian Cabot 

After the picture ascribed to Holbein 



OTHER DISCOVERERS 161 

entered the service of neighboring countries. He went 
to Spain and accompanied several Spanish expeditions 
sent to explore the new continent which Columbus had 
discovered on his third voyage. 

Perhaps Americus went as a pilot; he certainly was 
not the leader in any expedition. But he seems to have 
written to his friends interesting accounts of what he had 
seen. In one of these letters Americus seems to have 
written boastfully of how he had found lands which might 
be called a new world. He said that the new continent 
was more populous and more full of animals than Europe, 
or Asia, or Africa, and that the climate was even more 
temperate and pleasant than any other region. This 
was clearly a new world. 

Why Americus was regarded as the Discoverer of 
America. The statement of Americus was scattered 
widely by the help of the newly invented printing press. 
It was written in Latin, and so could be read by the 
learned of all countries. They were impressed by the 
belief of Americus that he had seen a new world and 
not simply the Indies. This was especially true of men 
living outside of Spain who had heard little of Columbus 
or his discovery. 

Columbus for his part had written as if his great dis- 
covery was a way to the Indies and the finding of islands 
on the way thither less important. Besides, when he saw 
what we call South America he had no idea that it was a 
new world. The people of Europe either never knew 
that he had discovered the mainland or had forgotten it 
altogether. But they heard a great deal about Americus 



162 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

and his doings. It is not strange that Americas rather 
than Columbus was long regarded as the true discoverer 
of America. 

Two Names for the New Lands. Even then the new 
continent might not have been called America but for 
the suggestion of a young scholar of the time. Martin 
Waldseemiiller, a professor of geography at the college 

Nunc vcro & hef partes Cintlatius luftrata?/ 8C 

alia quarta pars per AmcricS Vefpuriumc vt iafc^ 

>[^jg quentibus audietur)inucnta eibqua non. video cut 

Amc^ quis iurc vetet ab Amcrico inucntore fagads inge 

nco nfj viro Amcrigcn quaG Amend terram/fiue Amc 

ricam dicendamtcuin 8C Europa 8C Afia a mulienV 

bus fuaibrtita (int nomina.Eius fitu Sc gentis mo^ 

les exLbisBims.Amendnauigadonibus quf (eqaS 

turliquideintelligLdatun 

Facsimile 

Of the passage in the Cosmographioe Introductio (1507), by Martin Waldseemiiller, 
in which the name of America is proposed for the New World 

of St. Die, now in eastern France, wrote a book on geog- 
raphy. In his description of the parts of the world 
unknown to the ancients, he suggested naming the 
continent stretching to the south for Americus. 

Waldseemiiller thought Americus had been the real 
discoverer of this continent. He said, ^'Now, indeed, 
as these regions are more widely explored, and another 
fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius, 
I do not see why any one may justly forbid it to be named 
Amerige — that is, Americ's Land, from Americus, the 
discoverer. ^^ 



OTHER DISCOVERERS 



163 



Others adopted Waldseemiiller's suggestion and the 
name America came into general use outside of Spain. 
But the Spaniards continued to call all the new lands by 
the name which Columbus had given them — the Indies. 
America was at first the name for South America only, 
but later was also used by writers for the other continent 
which was soon found to the north. It was natural to 
distinguish the two continents as South and North 
America. 

Balboa. The successors of Columbus kept up a cease- 
less search for the real Indies, but the more they explored 
the more they saw that a great 
continental barrier was lying 
across the sea passage to Asia. 
A few began to suspect that 
after all America was not a part 
of Asia. Vasco Nunez Balboa 
was one of these. Balboa was 
a planter who had settled in 
Espanola. He fell deeply into 
debt, and to escape his credi- 
tors had himself nailed up in 
a barrel and put aboard a vessel 
bound for the northern coast of 

South America. From there he went to the eastern 
border of Panama with a party of gold seekers. The 
Indians told him of a great sea and of an abundance of 
gold on its shores to be found a short distance across the 
isthmus. It is probable that the Indians wished to get 
rid of the Spaniards as neighbors. 




Vasco Nunez Balboa 



164 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



Balboa's Discovery of the Pacific. Balboa resolved 
to make a name for himself and to be the discoverer of 
the other sea. He set off in 1513. The land is not more 
than forty-five miles wide at Panama, but it is almost im- 
passable even to this day. For twenty-two days the 
hardy adventurers advanced through a forest, dense with 
thickets and tangled swamps and interlacing vines — so 
thick that for days the sun could not be seen — and over 
rough and slippery mountain-sides until they came to 
an open sea stretching off to the south and west. Balboa 
called it the South Sea, but it is usually called the 
Pacific Ocean, the name given it afterward. 

Balboa had made the important discovery that the 
barrier of land was comparatively narrow. This gave the 
impression that North America, too, was narrower than 
it proved to be, and the search for the passage to the 
Indies was pushed with greater vigor. 

Magellan. A Portuguese 
explorer, Vasco da Gama, 
had really won the race 
begun by Prince Henry's 
navigators and Columbus 
for India, the land of 
cloves, pepper, and nut- 
megs. He had won in 1497 
by going around the Cape 
of Good Hope. Another 

Ferdinand Magellan _ , . 

explorer, Ferdmand Ma- 
gellan, finally reached the Indies in a long westward 
voyage lasting two years, from 1519 to 1521. 




OTHER DISCOVERERS 



165 



The Beginning of Magellan's Voyage. Magellan, him- 
self a Portuguese, tried in vain like Columbus to per- 
suade the king of Portugal to aid him in his project. 
He succeeded better in Spain, and sailed from there in 
1519 with a small fleet given him by the young king 




The Strait of Magellan 

Charles. The five ships in his fleet were old and in bad 
repair, and the crews had been brought together from 
every nation. They sailed directly to South America, 
and spent the first year searching every inlet along the 
coast for a passage. 

They found that the natives of South America used for 
food vegetables that ''looked like turnips and tasted like 
chestnuts." The Indians called them ''patatas." In 



166 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

this way the potato, one of the great foods of to-day, was 
found by Europeans. A whole winter was passed on 
the cold and barren coast of Patagonia. Magellan called 
the natives ''Patagones," the word in his language 
meaning big feet, from the large foot-prints which they 
left on the sand. 

The Strait of Magellan. Magellan finally found a 
strait, since' named for him the Strait of Magellan, and 
sailed his ships through it amid the greatest dangers. 
The change from the rough waters of the strait to the 
calm sea beyond made the word Pacific or Peaceful Sea 
seem the most suitable name for the vast body of water 
which they had entered. 

The First Voyage across the Pacific. From the western 
coast of South America Magellan struck boldly out into 
the Pacific Ocean on his way to Asia. The crews suffered 
untold hardships. The very rats which overran the 
rotten ships became a luxurious article of food which 
only the more fortunate members of the crews could 
afford. The poorer seamen lived for days on the ox-hide 
strips which protected the masts. These were soaked 
in sea-water and roasted over the fire. 

Magellan was fortunate enough to chance upon the 
Isle of Guam, where plentiful supphes were obtained. He 
called the group of small islands, of which Guam is one, 
the Ladrones. This was his word for robbers, used be- 
cause the natives were such robbers. The expedition 
discovered a group of islands afterwards called the 
Philippines. There Magellan fell in with traders from 
the Indies and knew that the remainder of the voyage 



OTHER DISCOVERERS 



167 



would be through well-known seas and over a route fre- 
quently followed. Poor Magellan did not live to complete 
his remarkable voyage. He was killed in the Philippine 
Islands in a battle with the natives. 




An Old Map of the New World — 1523 

After Magellan's voyage, but before the exploration of North America 
had gone far 

Only one of the five ships found its way through the 
Spice Islands, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape 
of Good Hope, and so back to Spain; but this one carried 
home twenty-six tons of cloves, worth more than enough 
to pay the whole cost of the expedition. Such was the 
value of the trade Europe was so eagerly seeking. 



168 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

What Magellan had shown the People of Europe. 

Magellan's voyage had, however, been a great event. 
Historians are agreed that it was the greatest voyage in 
the history of mankind. It had shown in a practical 
way that the earth is a globe, just as Columbus and 
other wise men had long taught, for a ship had sailed 
completely around it. 

But Magellan had also proved some things that they 
had not dreamed. He had shown that two great oceans 
instead of one lay between Europe and Asia ; he had made 
clear that the Indies which the Spanish explorers had 
found, and which other people were beginning to call 
the Americas, were really a new world entirely separate 
from Asia, and not a part of Asia as Columbus had 
thought. 



QUESTIONS 

1. Why were the early American explorers disappointed at finding 
two continents between Europe and Asia ? 

2. What land did John Cabot discover ? Where did he think this 
land was ? Why did the English people take little interest in this 
voyage ? 

3. Why was our country named America ? Do you think that 
Americus Vespucius deserved so great an honor ? By what name did 
the Spaniards continue to call the new region ? Why did the Span- 
iards have one name and the other Europeans another name for a long 
time? 

4. How did Balboa come to find the Pacific Ocean ? Why did men 
search for a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific more 
vigorously after Balboa's expedition ? 

5. Why has Magellan's voyage been called the greatest one in 
history ? What three things had Magellan shown the European 
world ? 



OTHER DISCOVERERS 169 



EXERCISES 



1. Make out a list of the explorers mentioned in this chapter who 
helped in the discovery of the New World, and place opposite the 
name of each the name of the land he discovered. 

2. Trace Magellan's voyage on the map, page 167, and make a 
list of the lands or countries he passed. Look at the map of North 
America on this old map, and at the one on page 223. How do you 
account for the queer shape of North America on the old map ? 

Important date — 1519-21. Magellan's ship made the first voyage 
around the world. 



CHAPTER XVI 

EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS AND CONQUERORS 
ON THE MAINLAND 

The Civilization of the Mexican Indians. Early Spanish 
explorers on the coast of Mexico found the Indians of 
the mainland more highly civilized than the natives of 
the West Indies. Some of these, especially the Aztecs, 
lived in large villages or cities and were ruled by powerful 
chiefs or kings. They built to their gods huge stone 
temples with towers several stories in height. 

Their houses, quite unlike those of the other Indians the 
Spanish had seen, were made of stone or sun-dried brick 
and coated with hard white plaster. Some of them were 
of immense size and could hold many famihes. Doors 
had not been invented, but hangings of woven grass or 
matting of cotton served instead. Strings of shells which 
a visitor could rattle answered for door-bells. 

The streets of the towns were narrow, but were often 
paved with a sort of cement. Aqueducts in solid masonry 
somewhat like the old Roman aqueducts, although not 
so large, carried water from the neighboring hills for 
fountains and rude public baths. 

The women wove cotton and prepared clothing for 
their families. Workmen made ornaments of gold and 
copper, and utengils and dishes of pottery for every-day 

170 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



171 



use. The people cultivated the fields around the cities, 
raising a great variety of foods, and even built ditches 
to carry water for irrigating the fields. All this was in 
striking contrast with the simple habits of the West 
Indians. 

Cruel Customs of the Aztecs. With all the good 
features of Mexican hfe, with all the superiority of the 
Mexicans over the other Indians, there was much that 













A\ T 



.^-^^^ 







^W4i'^ 



llii(miiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiliiifliiri(ii(«MiniiHn)iiim)»iiimiimHii)n»)« 

Aztec Sacrificial Stone 

Now in the square before the cathedral in the City of Mexico 

was hideous and cruel. The Aztecs, the most powerful 
tribes, wxre continually at war with their neighbors. 
They lived mainly. upon the plunder of their enemies and 
tribute taken from those they had conquered. The 
victor in battle offered his captives, when they had been 
w^ell fattened, as sacrifices to his gods, and he and his 
followers devoured the victims at horrible feasts. 

Spanish Ideas of Mexico. The reports of the Aztec 
civilization and of the treasures of gold, mostly untrue, 
excited the interest and greed of the Spaniards. Mexico 



172 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



seemed like the China which Marco Polo had described, 
and might offer a chance of immense wealth for those 
who should conquer it. In truth, Mexican civilization 

did resemble that of Asia 
more than anything that 
the Spaniards had seen. 
Montezuma, a powerful 
chief or king of the Aztecs, 
lived somewhat like a 
Mongol Emperor of Persia 
or China. 

Cortes. In 1519 the 
governor of Cuba sent 
Hernando Cortes to ex- 
plore and conquer Mexico. 
The expedition landed 
where Vera Cruz is now 
situated. The ships were 
then sunk in order to cut 
off all hope of retreat for the soldiers. ^'For whom 
but cowards," said Cortes, ''were means of retreat 
necessary!" The small army marched slowly inland 
towards the City of Mexico, which was the capital of 
Montezuma's kingdom. 

The Spanish priests worked up the zeal of the soldiers 
to the frenzy of a crusade for the Cross. The, invaders, 
priests and soldiers, thought it a duty to destroy the 
practice of human sacrifices and to force the Christian 
religion upon the natives. The Mexican priests on their 
part, dressed in dark cotton robes and with their hair 




Montezuma, the last King of 
Mexico 

After Montanus and Ogilby 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



173 



tangled and matted with blood from horrible human 
sacrifices, went among the Indians exhorting them to 
defend their temples and their gods. 

How the Spaniards and the Aztecs fought. The Mexi- 
can warriors, though they fought fiercely, were no match 
for the Spaniards. The 
Mexicans were experts 
with the bow and arrow, 
using arrows pointed with 
a hard kind of stone. 
They carried for hand-to- 
hand fighting a narrow 
club set with a double 
edge of razor-like stones, 
and wore a crude kind of 
armor made from quilted 
cotton. But such things 
were useless against 
Spanish bullets shot from 
afar. 

The roaring cannon, the 
glittering steel swords, the 
thick armor and shining 
helmets, the prancing 

horses on which the Spanish leaders were mounted, gave 
the whole a strange, unearthly appearance to the simple- 
minded Indians. The story is told that the Mexicans 
believed that one of their gods had once floated out to 
sea, saying that, in the fulness of time, he would return 
with fair-skinned companions to begin again his rule 




The Armor of Cortes 

After an engraving of the original in the 
National Museum, Madrid 



174 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

over his people. Many Aztecs looked upon the coming 
of the white men as the return of this god and thought 
that resistance would be useless. Such natives sent 
presents, made their peace with Cortes, and so weakened 
the opposition to the conquerors. 

Cortes in Peril. Cortes easily entered the City of 
Mexico, and forced Montezuma to resign. But here the 
natives attacked his army in such numbers that he had 



Cannon of the Time of Cortes 

After Van Menken. There are in the naval museum 
at Annapolis guns captured in the Mexican War supposed 
to be those used by Cortes 

to retreat to escape capture. The Spaniards fled from 
the city at night amid the onslaught of the inhabitants 
fighting for their religion and their homes. 

The retreat cost the Spaniards terrible losses. Cortes 
started in the evening on the retreat with 1,250 soldiers, 
6,000 Indian allies, and 80 horses. There were left in the 
morning 500 soldiers, 2,000 allies, and 20 horses. Cortes is 
said to have buried his face in his hands and wept for his 
lost followers, but he never wavered in his purpose of tak- 
ing Mexico. He was able to defeat the Indians in the open 
country, and to return to the attack on the capital city. 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



175 



Capture of the City of Mexico. The siege which fol- 
lowed, lasting nearly three months, has rarely been 
matched in history for the bravery and sufTering of the 
natives. The fighting was constant and terrible. The 
fresh water supply was cut off from the inhabitants in 
the city, and famine aided the invaders. At length the 
defenders were exhausted and Cortes entered. It had 




The City of Mexico under the Conquerors 

From the engraving in the " Niewe Wereld " of Montanus 

taken him two years to conquer the Aztecs. A greater 
task remained for him to do. He was to cleanse and 
rebuild the City of Mexico, make it a center of Spanish 
civilization, and Mexico a New Spain. By such work 
Cortes showed that he could be not only a great conqueror, 
but also an able ruler in time of peace. 

Pizarro. A few years after Cortes conquered Mexico 
a second army conquered another famous Indian king- 
dom. Francisco Pizarro commanded this expedition, 
which set out from Panama in 153L Pizarro had been 
with Balboa at the discovery of the South Sea or Pacific 



176 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



Ocean, and, like his master, had become interested in the 
stories the Indians told of a rich kingdom far to the south. 
The golden kingdom which the Indians described was 

that of the Incas, who hved 
much as the Aztecs. The Span- 
iards called the region of the 
Incas the Biru country or, by 
softening the first letter, the 
Peru country, from Biru, who 
was a native Indian chieftain. 

Conquest of Peru. Pizarro 
found the Incas divided as usual 
by civil wars and incapable of 
much resistance. One of their 
rival chiefs was outwitted when 
he tried to capture Pizarro by a 
trick, and was himself made a 
prisoner instead. He offered to 
give Pizarro in return for his 
freedom as much gold as would 
fill his prison room as high as he 
could reach. The offer was accepted, and gold, mainly 
in the shape of vases, plates, images, and other orna- 
ments from the temples for the Indian idols, was 
gathered together. 

The Spaniards soon found themselves in possession of 
almost $7,000,000 worth of gold, besides a vast quantity 
of silver. As much more was taken from the Indians by 
force. The whole was divided among the conquerors. 
Pizarro's share was worth nearly a million dollars. But 




A Stone Idol of the Aztecs 

It is more than eight feet high 
and five feet across, and was dug 
up in the central square of the 
City of Mexico more than ono 
hundred years ago 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 177 

the poor chief who had made them suddenly rich was 
suspected of plotting to have his warriors ambush them 
as they left the country, was tried by his conquerors, and 
put to death. The bloody work of conquest was soon 
over. Peru, like Mexico, rapidly became a center of 
Spanish settlement. Emigrants, instead of stopping in 
the West Indies, had the choice of going on into the newer 
regions which Cortes and Pizarro had won. 

Emigrants to Spanish America. It was much harder 
in the sixteenth century to leave Spain and settle in 
America than it is to-day. The first and sometimes the 
greatest difficulty was in getting permission to leave 
Spain. No one could go who had not secured the king's 
consent. The emigrant must show that neither he nor 
his father nor his grandfather had ever been guilty of 
heresy, that is, that he and his forefathers had been 
steadfast Catholic Christians. His wife, if he had one, 
must give her consent. His debts must all be paid. The 
Moors and the Jews of Spain could not secure permits to 
move to the New World. Foreigners of whatever nation 
were not wanted in the colonies and were usually kept 
out. Spain tried to keep its colonies wholly for Spaniards. 

Hardships of the Sea Voyage. Those who did go to 
the colonies found the voyage dangerous and costly. 
One traveler has related that it cost him about one 
hundred and eighty dollars for the passage, and that he 
provided his own chickens and bread. The danger to 
sailing ships from storms was much greater than it is 
to-day for steamships. The voyage required three or 
four weeks and not uncommonly as many months. 



178 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Need of Laborers. The hardships and dangers 
of the voyage and the reports of suffering from famine 
and disease kept most people from going to the New World. 
Emigration was slow, amounting to about a thousand 
a year. There were always fewer capable white laborers 
than the landowners in the colonies needed for their 
work, for there was much to do in clearing the land 
and preparing it for use. The landowners were usually 
well-to-do Spaniards who did not like to work in the 
fields themselves. A great many of the laborers who 
migrated to America served in the army or went to the 
gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru. The craze 
for gold constantly robbed the older colonies of their 
farm laborers. The landowners in the islands of the 
West Indies, during the early history of the colonies, made 
slaves of the Indians and compelled them to take the 
place of the laborers they needed and could not obtain. 

Indian Slavery. The people of Europe thought that 
the whole world belonged to the followers of Christ. Non- 
Christians, whether Indian or negro, had the choice of 
accepting Christianity or of being made slaves. The 
choice of Christianity did not always save them from the 
fate of slavery. In this the Spaniards were no more 
cruel than their neighbors the English or the French. 
The Spanish planters from the beginning forced the 
Indians to work their farms. The gold seekers made 
them work in their mines. 

The labor in every case was hard, and specially hard 
for the Indian unused to work. The overseers were 
brutal when the slaves did not do the tasks set for them. 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



179 



Hard usage and the unhealthful quarters rapidly broke 
down the natives. The white men also brought into 
the island diseases which they, with their greater experi- 
ence, could resist, but from which, one writer says, the 
Indians died like sheep with a distemper. 




A Spanish Galleon 

Ships like this carried the Spanish emigrants to America 

Slavery destroys the West Indians. When the number 
of the Indians in Espafiola and Cuba had decreased so 
much that there were not enough left to meet the needs 
of the planters, slave-hunters searched the neighboring 
islands for others. Finally, when the Indians were nearly 
gone, and the planters began to look to the mainland for 
their slaves, the king of Spain forbade making slaves of 



180 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

the Indians. Unfortunately he did not forbid them to 
capture negroes in Africa for the same purpose, and the 
change merely meant that negroes took the place of 
Indians as slaves. The story of the change is in great 
part the story of the life of Bartholomew de Las Casas. 

Las Casas. The father of Las Casas was a companion 
of Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. He returned 
to Spain, taking with him a young Indian slave whom he 
gave to his son. This youth became greatly interested 
in the race to which his young slave belonged. In 1502 
he went to Espaiiola to take possession of his father's 
estate. The planter's life did not long satisfy him and 
finally he became a priest. He moved from Espanola to 
Cuba, the newer colony. 

Las Casas became convinced that Indian slavery was 
wrong, and gave his own slaves their freedom. In his 
sermons he attacked the abuses of slavery. He visited 
Spain in order to help the slaves, and secured many re- 
forms which lessened the hardships of their lot. Since 
the planters demanded more laborers and Las Casas 
thought the negro would be hardier than the Indian, he 
advocated negro slavery in place of Indian slavery as 
the less of two evils. Finally, in 1542, Las Casas per- 
suaded his king, Charles V, to put an end to Indian 
slavery of every form. 

His success came too late to benefit the natives of the 
West Indies. They had decreased until almost none 
were left. It is said that there were two hundred thou- 
sand Indians in Espanola in 1492, and that in 1548 
there were barely five hundred survivors. The same 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



181 



i;=.^^ 



decrease had taken place in the other islands. But the 
work of Las Casas came in time to save the Indians on 
the mainland from the fate of the luckless islanders. 

Negro Slavery. Las Casas later regretted that he had 
advised the planters to obtain negroes to take the place 
of the Indians. Some 
negroes had been cap- 
tured by the Portu- 
guese on the coast of 
Africa during their 
explorations and 
taken to Europe as .f 
slaves. Columbus car- 
ried a few of these to 
the West Indies with 
him, and others had 
followed his example, 
but negro slavery had 
grown very slowly un- 
til after Las Casas 
stopped Indian 
slavery, when it in- 
creased rapidly in 
Spanish America. 

The Missions of the ,,, ,, ., Y^?-""^^^ ■ u . . 

After the picture by Felix Parra in the Academy, 

lVIa.inla.nd. Las Casas ^^^^^<^o- Las Casas is supposed to be imploring 

Providence to shield the natives from Spanish 

became at one time a cruelty 

missionary to a tribe of the most desperate warriors lo- 
cated on the southern border of Mexico, in a region called 
by the Spaniards the ''Land of War." Three times a 




182 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Spanish army had invaded the country, and three times 
it had been driven back by the native defenders. Las 
Casas wished to show the Spaniards that more could be 
accompHshed by treating the Indians kindly than by 
bloody warfare and conquest. 

He and the monks whom he took with him learned 
the language of the Indians, and went among them not 
as conquerors but as Christian teachers. Their gentle 
manners and endless patience won the friendship of the 
Indians in time and changed the land of constant warfare 
into one of peace. They led the natives to destroy their 
idols and to give up cannibalism. The mission estab- 
lished among them and kept up by the monks who were 
attracted to it was only one of a great number which 
sprang up on the mainland. 

The Work of the Missions. Influenced by the work of 
Las Casas against Indian slavery and for Indian missions, 
the Spaniards bent their efforts to preserve and Christ- 
ianize the natives wherever they came upon them in 
America. Catholic priests gathered the Indians into 
permanent villages, which were called missions. Within 
about one hundred years after the death of Columbus, 
or by 1600, there were more then 5,000,000 Indians in 
such villages under Spanish rule. Priests taught them 
to build better houses, checked their native vices, and 
suppressed heathen practices. 

Every mission became a little industrial school for 
children and parents alike, where all might learn the 
simpler arts and trades and the customs and language of 
their teachers. Each Indian cultivated his own plot 



EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 



183 



of land and worked two hours a day on the farm belong- 
ing to the village. The produce of the village farm sup- 
ported the church. The monks or friars who had charge 
of the mission cared for the poor, taught in the schools, 
preserved the peace and order of the village, and looked 
after the religious welfare of all. 




Ruins of a Spanish Mission House 



Gradually Spanish emigrants settled in the mission 
stations, and planters established farms around them, 
and they became Spanish villages in every respect like 
those in the islands or in the Old World, except that many 
inhabitants in the towns on the mainland were Indians. 
The emigrants freely intermarried with the Indians and 
a mixed race took the place of the old inhabitants. The 
customs, language, religion, and rule of Spain prevailed 
in this New Spain, though in some ways the new civiliza- 
tion was not so good as that of the Old World. 



184 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

QUESTIONS 

1. In what ways did the Aztecs resemble the Europeans? How 
did they differ from them? Why were the Spaniards particularly 
anxious to conquer Mexico? 

2. Why did many of the Mexicans refuse to fight the Spaniards? 
How many soldiers and Indian allies did Cortes lose in one battle? 
How long did it take Cortes to conquer Mexico? 

3. What other Indian people was conquered a few years later? 
By whom? What seemed to be the main object of these conquerors, 
Cortes and Pizarro, in their expeditions? 

4. Why did the Spaniards make slaves of the Indians in the West 
Indies? Why did they later cease making slaves of Indians and begin 
making slaves of negroes? What share had Las Casas in this change? 

5. What good work did the priests and monks in the Spanish Mis- 
sions accomplish? What became of the Aztecs or other Indian 
tribes in Mexico? 

EXERCISES 

1. Find all you can about the houses, food, clothing, and occupa- 
tions of any Indians living in your part of the United States, or if 
none are there now, learn this from your parents or from some neigh- 
bor who knew the Indians. Did they resemble the Aztecs in these 
respects or the West Indians? 

2. Review the account of emigrating to Spanish America four hun- 
dred years ago. Who could not go to Spanish America then? Find 
out who may not come into the United States to-day. What did it 
cost one traveler to get to America in the sixteenth century? Find 
out the cost of a voyage from Europe to America to-day. How long 
did it take to make such a voyage? Find out the usual length of a 
voyage from Europe to-day. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 

Ponce de Leon. While men like Cortes were exploring 
and conquering the countries on the west shore of the 
Gulf of Mexico, others began to search the vast regions 
to the north. One of these ex- 
plorers w^as Ponce de Leon, who 
had come to Espanola wdth Co- 
lumbus in 1493. He afterwards 
spent many years in the West 
Indies capturing Indians, and 
understood from something they 
said that a magic fountain could 
be found beyond the Bahamas 
which would restore an old man '|^||' Jl ?®/«^ Si ^ 

to youth and vigor, if he bathed "^''''''' ^ 'f ' ■ "■' 

Ponce de Leon 
m it. 

As Ponce de Leon was beginning to feel aged he went in 
search of this wondrous fountain, but he found instead a 
coast where flowers grew in great abundance. It w^as the 
Easter season in 1513. Since the Spanish call this season 
Pascua Florida or Flowery Easter, Ponce called the new 
flowery country Florida. He w^ent ashore near the pres- 
ent site of St. Augustine, and later, while trying to estab- 
lish a settlement, lost his life in a battle with the Indians. 

185 




186 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



Explorations of North American Coast. Other Spanish 
explorers between 1513 and 1525 followed the whole 
Gulf coast from Florida to Vera Cruz, and the Atlantic 
coast from Florida to Labrador. They sought con- 
tinually for a passage to India. Every large inlet was 

entered, for it might prove to 
be the long-looked-for strait. 
Slowly the coast of North 
America took shape on the 
maps of that time. Two fa- 
mous expeditions into the inte- 
rior of the country did much to 
enlarge this knowledge. One 
was made by De Soto through 
the region which now forms 
seven southern states of the 
Hernando de Soto United States, and the other 

was by Coronado through the great southwest. 

De Soto. Hernando de Soto, a noble from Seville in 
Spain, had won fame and fortune with Pizarro in Peru. 
The King of Spain, to reward his bravery and skill in 
conquering Indians, made him Governor of Cuba. In 
those days the Governor of Cuba controlled Florida. It 
was a larger Florida than the present state of that name, 
for Spanish Florida included the whole north coast of 
the Gulf of Mexico running back into the continent 
without any definite boundary. 

The Story of the Gilded Man. De Soto had heard a 
fanciful story of a country so rich in gold that its king 
was smeared every morning with gum and then thickly 




SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 187 

sprinkled with powdered gold, which was washed off at 
night. De Soto thought this country might be some- 
where in Florida, and prepared to search for the Gilded 
Man, or in the Spanish language El Dorado. 

The Comrades of De Soto. More than six hundred 
men, some of them from the oldest families of the nobility 
of Spain and Portugal, flocked to De 
Soto's banner. They sold their pos- 
sessions at home and ventured all their 
wealth in the hope of obtaining great 
riches in Florida. 

De Soto's Route through the South 
of North America. De Soto crossed 
from Cuba to the west coast of Florida 
in 1539, and advanced northward by 
land to an Indian village near Apa- 
lachee Bay. Here he spent the first 

winter. A white man, whom the Spanish Knight of 

Indians had taken captive twelve years ^^^^ Century 
before and finally adopted, joined De Soto and became 
very useful as an interpreter. 

In the spring De Soto renewed his explorations. It was 
like a journey into the interior of Africa. The expedition 
passed northeasterly through the country now within 
Georgia and South Carolina, as far, perhaps, as the border 
of North Carohna. From here it passed through the 
mountains, and turned southwesterly through Tennessee 
and Alabama until a large Indian village called Mauvilla 
was reached. This was near the head of Mobile Bay. 
Mobile was named from the Indian village Mauvilla. 




188 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Alabama Indians, whose name means ''the thicket 
clearers," were near by. Here again De Soto changed 
his course to the northwest into the unknown interior. 

The Hardships of the Journey. His army was almost 
exhausted by the difficulties of the journey. A road had 
to be cut and broken through thickets and forest, paths 




Indians Broiling Fish 



had to be made through the many swamps, and fords 
found across the rivers. It frequently became necessary 
to stop for months at a time, to let the horses, worn out 
from travel and starving because of the scarcity of fodder, 
fatten on the grass. The stores which the army brought 
with them soon gave out. The men were forced to live 
like Indians, and were often reduced to using the roots 
of wild plants for food. Where they could, they robbed 
the Indians of their scanty stores of corn and beans. 

Cruel Treatment of the Indians. De Soto was cruel 
in his treatment of the conquered natives along his route. 
Many of his officers came with him really for the purpose 



I 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 189 

of obtaining Indian slaves for their plantations in Cuba. 
Indian women were made to do the work of the camp. 
Indian men were chained together and forced to carry 
the baggage. The chiefs were held as hostages for the 



r' NORTH 
y CAROLINA 




GULF OF MEXICO 

50 100 200 

De Soto's Route— ^ ' ' ^ ' 



Map of De Soto's Route — 1539-1542 



good behavior of the whole tribe. The Indians who tried 
to shirk work or offered resistance were killed without 
mercy. 

De Soto's cruelties made the Indian of the South hate 
the white men, and left him the enemy of any who should 
come to those regions in after-years. More than once 
De Soto narrowly escaped destruction at the hands of 
the enraged savages. They attacked the Spaniards with 



190 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

all their strength at Mauvilla, and again while they 
were in camp in northern Mississippi for the winter of 
1540-1541. These two battles with the Indians cost the 
Spaniards their baggage, which was destroyed in the 
burning villages. New clothing, however, was soon made 
from the skins of wild animals. Deerskins and bear- 
skins served for cloaks, jackets, shirts, stockings, and even 
for shoes. The great army must have looked much like 
a band of Robinson Crusoes. 

The Discovery of the Mississippi. De Soto marched 
on northwesterly until May 8, 1541, when he was some- 
where near the site of the present city of Memphis. 
There he came upon a great river. One of his officers 
tells us that the river was so wide at this point that if a 
man on the other side stood still, it could not be known 
whether he were a man or not ; that the river was of great 
depth, and of a strong current; and that the water was 
always muddy. 

De Soto called it, in his own language, the Rio Grande 
or Great River, but the Indians called it the Mississippi. 
Americans have adopted the Indian name. Other Spanish 
explorers had probably passed the mouth of the Mississippi 
River before De Soto, and wondered at its mighty size, 
but De Soto was the first white man to approach it from 
the land and to appreciate the importance of his dis- 
covery. 

Wanderings west of the Mississippi. The Spaniards 
cut down trees, made them into planks and built barges 
on which they crossed the Mississippi. Then they wan- 
dered for another year through the endless woods and 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 191 

marshes of the low-lying lands now within the state of 
Arkansas. They probably went as far west as the open 
plains of Oklahoma or Texas. In these border regions 
between the forests and the prairies they met Indians 
who used the skins of the buffalo for clothing. 

Death and Burial of De Soto. The severe winter of 
1541-1542 discouraged the hardy travelers, who had now 











Burial of De Soto in the Mississippi 

spent nearly three years in a vain search. The natives 
whom they had found made clothing from the fiber in 
the bark of mulberry trees and from the hides of buffaloes, 
and stored beans and corn for food, but such things seemed 
of httle value to the seekers for the Gilded Man. 

De Soto returned to the Mississippi and prepared to 
establish a colony somewhere near the mouth of the Red 
River. It was his purpose to send to Cuba for supplies, 
and, with this settlement as a base, make a farther search 



192 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

in the plains of the great West. He did not hve to carry- 
out his plan. Long exposure and anxiety had weakened 
him. The malaria of the swamps attacked him, and he 
died within a few days. His body was wrapped in mantles 
weighted with sand, carried in a canoe, and secretly 
lowered in the midst of the great river he had discovered. 

His successor tried to conceal De Soto's death from the 
Indians. The Spaniards had called their leader the 
Child of the Sun, and now he had died like any other 
mortal. They were afraid if the Indians found his body 
they would cease to believe that the strangers were 
immortal and would massacre them all. The Indians 
were told that the great leader had gone to Heaven, as 
he had often done before, and that he would return in 
a few days. 

Results of De Soto's Journey. The weary survivors 
built boats, floated down the Mississippi into the Gulf, 
and sailed cautiously along the coasts to Mexico. They 
had been gone four years and three months, and half of 
the army which set out had perished. However, the ex- 
pedition of De Soto will always remain one of the most 
remarkable journeys in the history of North America. 
It had extended the Spanish claims far into the interior. 
With it had begun the written history of the country 
now composing at least eight states in the United States, 
Florida, Georgia, South Carohna, North Carolina, 
Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. It had 
perhaps reached the present Oklahoma and Texas, and 
had certainly passed down the Mississippi River through 
Louisiana. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 193 



The Story of the Seven Cities. While De Soto was 
exploring the southeastern part of North America a 
second expedition searched the southwest. Both were 
looking for rich Indian kingdoms 
like Mexico and Peru. The second 
expedition came about in this man- 
ner. Some of the Indians from 
northern Mexico told the Spaniards 
a strange tale of how in the distant 
past their ancestors came forth from 
seven caves. 

The Spaniards, however, confused 
the tale with a story of their own 
about Seven Cities. They believed 
that at the time Spain was overrun 
by the Moors in the eighth century, 
seven bishops, flying from persecu- 
tion, had taken refuge, with a great 
company of followers, on an island 
or group of islands far out in the Atlantic Ocean, and 
that they had built Seven Cities. Wonderful stories 
were told in Spain of these cities, of their wealth and 
splendor, though nobody ever pretended to have actually 
seen them. The Spaniards thought the Indians meant 
to tell them of these Seven Cities instead of seven caves. 

The mistake was natural, as the Spanish explorers had 
much trouble in understanding the Indian languages. 
They had long expected to find the Seven Cities in 
America. Indeed there was rumor that white travelers 
had seen them north of Mexico. 




An Indian op North- 
ern Mexico 



194 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Journey of Friar Marcos. In 1539 the Viceroy of 
Mexico sent a frontier missionary, Friar Marcos by name, 
together with a negro, Stephen, and some Christianized 
Indians to look for them. Friar Marcos traveled far 
to the north. He inquired his way of the Indians, always 
asking them about Seven Cities. He described them as 
large cities with houses made of stone and mortar. The 
Indians, half-understanding him, directed him to seven 
Zufii villages or pueblos. The first of these they called 
Cibola. Friar Marcos henceforth spoke of them as the 
Seven Cities of Cibola. 

The good friar himself never entered even the first of 
them. His negro, Stephen, had been sent on in advance 
to prepare the way, but this rough, greedy fellow ofTended 
the Indians, who promptly murdered him. When the 
friar approached he found the Indians so excited and 
hostile that he dared not enter their village. He did, 
however, venture to climb a hill at a distance, from which 
he had a view of one of the cities of Cibola. The houses, 
built of light stone and whitish adobe, glistened in the 
wonderfully clear air and bright sunlight of that region, 
and gave him the idea of a much larger and richer 
city than really existed. Friar Marcos, by this time 
thoroughly frightened, hurriedly retraced his steps. 

Coronado. There was great excitement in Mexico 
over the story Friar Marcos told. The account of what 
had been seen grew, as such stories always do, in the telling 
and retelling. Nothing else was thought of in all New 
Spain. The Viceroy of Mexico made ready a great army 
for the conquest of the Seven Cities of Cibola. He gave 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 195 

the command to his intimate friend, Francisco de Coro- 
nado. Everybody wanted to accompany him, but it was 
necessary to have the consent of the viceroy. Sons of 
nobles, eager to go, traded with their more fortunate neigh- 
bors for the viceroy's permit. Some men who secured 
these sold them as special favors to their friends. Who- 
ever obtained one of them counted it as good as a title of 




A ZuNi Pueblo from a Distance 

nobility. So high were the expectations of great wealth 
when the Seven Cities should be discovered! 

The Army of Coronado. In the early part of 1540, 
Coronado set forth from his home in western Mexico 
near the Gulf of California. He had an army of three 
hundred Spaniards, nearly all the younger sons of nobles. 
They were fitted out with polished coats of mail and gilded 
armor, carried lances and swords, and were mounted on 
the choicest horses from the large stock-farms of the 
viceroy. There were in the army a few footmen armed 
with crossbows and harquebuses. A thousand negroes 
and Indians were taken along, mainly as servants for 



196 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



the white masters. Some led the spare horses. Others 
carried the baggage, or drove the oxen and cows, the sheep 
and swine which would be needed on the journey. A 




Coronado's Route 



The Route of Coronado 



small fleet carried part of the baggage by way of the Gulf 
of California, prepared also to help Coronado in other 
ways, and to explore the Gulf to its head. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 



197 



The Route of Coronado to Cibola. The large army 
marched slowly through the wild regions of the Gulf coast. 
Coronado soon became impatient and pushed ahead of 
the main body with a small following of picked horsemen. 
They went through the mountainous wilderness of 
northern Mexico and across the desert plains of south- 
eastern Arizona. After a march lasting five months, 




over a distance equal to that from New York to Omaha, 
Coronado came upon the Seven Cities of Cibola; but the 
real Seven Cities of Cibola as Coronado found them bore 
little resemblance to what he had expected. 

The real Seven Cities of Cibola. The first city of 
Cibola was an Indian pueblo of about two hundred flat- 
roofed houses, built of stone and sun-dried clay. The 
houses were entered by climbing ladders to the top and 
then passing down into the rooms as we enter ships 
through hatches. The people wore only such clothes as 
could be woven from the coarse fiber of native plants, or 



198 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



patched together from the tanned skins of the cat or the 
deer. They cultivated certain plants for food, but only 
small and poor varieties of corn, beans, and melons. They 
had some skill in making small things for house and 

personal decoration, 
mainly in the form of 
pottery and simple 
ornaments of green 
stone. 

The kingdom of 
rich cities dwindled to 
a small province of 
poor villages inhab- 
ited by an unwarlike 
people. We know 
now that Coronado 
had found the Zufii 
pueblos in the western 
part of New Mexico. 
The conquest of these 
was a wofully small 
thing for so grand and 
costly an expedition. 
No gold or silver or precious jewels had been found. 

The Canyon of the Colorado. Yet the wonders of the 
natural world about them astonished and interested the 
Spaniards. Some of their number found the Grand 
Canyon of the Colorado River and vividly described it 
to their comrades. As they looked into its depths it 
seemed as if the water was six feet across, although in 




Canyon of the Colorado 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 199 

reality it was many hundred feet wide. Some tried with- 
out success to descend the steep chff to the stream below 
or to discover a means of crossing to the opposite side. 
Those who staid above estimated that some huge rocks 
on the side of the cliff were about as tall as a man, but 
those who went down as far as they could swore that 
when they reached these rocks they found them bigger 
than the great tower of Seville, which is two hundred and 
seventy-five feet high. 

Coronado in New Mexico. Coronado marched from 
the Cities of Cibola eastward to the valley of the Rio 
Grande River, and settled for the winter in an Indian 
village a short distance south of the present city of 
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Spaniards drove the 
natives out, only allowing them to take the clothes they 
wore. 

A Winter in an Indian Village. The soldiers passed the 
severe winter of 1540-1541 comfortably quartered in the 
best houses of the Indian village. A plentiful supply of 
corn and beans had been left by the unfortunate owners. 
The live stock brought from Mexico furnished an abun- 
dance of fresh meat. Coronado required the Indians to 
furnish three hundred pieces of cloth for cloaks and 
blankets for his men, to take the place of their own, now 
worn out. Nor did the officers give the Indians time to 
secure the cloth that was demanded, but forced them to 
take their own cloaks and blankets off their backs. When 
a soldier came upon an Indian whose blanket was better 
than his, he compelled the unlucky fellow to exchange 
with him without more ado. 



200 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Coronado's strenuous efforts to provide well for the 
comforts of his men made him much loved by them, but 
much hated by the Indians. It is no wonder that such 
treatment drove the Indians into rebellion, and that 
Coronado was obliged to carry on a cruel war of reconquest 
and revenge. 

The Tale of Quivira. An Indian slave in one of the 
villages cheered Coronado and his followers with a fabu- 
lous tale about a wonderful city, many days' journey 
across the plains to the northeast, which he called Quivira. 
The king of Quivira, he said, took his nap under a large 
tree, on which were hung little gold bells, which put him 
to sleep as they swung in the air. Every one in the city 
had jugs and bowls made of wrought gold. The slave 
was probably tempted by the eagerness of his hearers to 
make his tale bigger. He perhaps made it as enticing as 
he could in order to lead the strangers away to perish in 
the pathless plains where water would be scarce and corn 
unknown. 

The Search for Quivira. The slave's story deceived 
the Spaniards. Coronado grasped eagerly at the only 
hope left of finding a rich country and marched away in 
search of Quivira. He traveled to the northeast for 
seventy-seven days. There were no guiding land marks. 
Soldiers measured the distance traveled each day by 
counting the footsteps. The plains were flat, save for 
an occasional channel cut by some river half buried in 
the sand; they were barren, except for a short wiry grass 
and a small rim of shrubs and stunted trees along the 
watercourses. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 201 

Quivira. The most marvelous sight of the long journey 
was the herds of buffaloes in countless numbers. The 
Indians guided Coronado in the end to a cluster of Indian 
villages which they called Quivira. This was somewhere 
in what is now central Kansas near Junction City. The 
Indians were in all probability the Wichitas. Here again 
the great explorer met with a bitter disappointment. 




Indian Tepees 

Instead of a fine city of stone and mortar, he found scat- 
tered Indian villages with mere tent-like houses formed 
by fastening grass or straw or buffalo skins to poles. 
The people were the poorest and most barbarous which he 
had met. Coronado was, however, fortunate in securing 
a supply of corn and buffalo meat in Quivira for his long 
return journey. 

Coronado's Opinion of the West. A year later a crest- 
fallen army of half-starved men clad in the skins of 
animals stumbled back homeward through Mexico in 
straggling groups. Great sadness prevailed in Mexico, 



202 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

for many had lost their fortunes besides friends and rela- 
tives in the enterprise. Coronado seemed to the people 
of the time to have led a costly army on a wild-goose 
chase. He himself thought that the regions he had 
crossed were valueless. He said they were cold and too 
far away from the sea to furnish a good site for a colony, 
and the country was neither rich enough nor populous 
enough to make it worth keeping. 

Results of Coronado's Explorations. We know better 
to-day the value of Coronado's great discoveries. He 
had solved the age-long mystery of the Seven Cities, and 
explored the southwest of the United States of our 
day. The rich region now included in the great states 
of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas 
had been seen, and it was soon after described for the 
European world. His men had explored the Gulf of 
CaHfornia to its head, and the Colorado River toward its 
source for two hundred miles. They had proved that 
lower California was not an island but a part of the main- 
land. Others soon explored the entire coast of California 
to the limits of the present state of Oregon. 

How De Soto and Coronado came near meeting. De 
Soto and Coronado together pushed the Spanish frontier 
far northward to the center of North America. A story 
which was told by De Soto's men shows how close to- 
gether the two great explorers were at one time. While 
Coronado was in Quivira, De Soto was wandering along 
the borders of the plains west of the Mississippi River, 
though neither knew of the nearness of the other. An 
Indian woman who ran away, from Coronado's army fell 



SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 203 

in with De Soto's, nine days later. If De Soto and 
Coronado had met on the plains there would have been 
a finer story to tell, almost as dramatic as the meeting 
of Stanley and Livingstone in central Africa. One can- 
not refrain from wondering how different would have 
been the ending with the two great armies united and 
encouraged to continue their explorations. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What story had Ponce de Leon heard in the West Indies? 
What did he find? Why did he call the new country which he dis- 
covered Florida? What was included in Florida as the Spaniards 
understood it? 

2. What was De Soto looking for in North America? How long 
did he search? What did he find? Was he disappointed? What 
was he planning to do when he died? Why was his journey very 
remarkable? Through what present states of the United States did 
he pass? 

3. Where did the Spaniards expect to find the Seven Cities? 
Why did he expect to find them there? What was the story of 
the Seven Cities? Of the Seven Caves? 

4. What did Coronado expect to find at the Seven Cities of 
Cibola? What did he find there? Why did he go far on into 
North America in search of Quivira? What did he find on the 
way to Quivira? What did he find Quivira to be? 

5. What did Coronado think of his own discoveries? What had 
he found out of interest or value to the rest of the world? Which 
of the present states of the United States did his route touch? 

REVIEW 

1. Review the effect of the discoveries of Columbus (map, page 
L55), Magellan (map, page 169), De Soto (map, page 189), Coronado 
(map, page 196), on the knowledge of the new world. 

Important date — 1541. The discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 

The Rivals of Spain. When the early voyages to 
America and Asia were ended, the French, the English, 
and the other northern peoples of Europe seemed to be 
beaten in the race for new lands and for new routes to 
old lands. The French had sent a few fishermen to the 
Banks of Newfoundland, and that was all. The Enghsh 
had made one or two voyages and appeared to be no 
longer interested. (See page 160.) The Dutch seemed to 
be only sturdy fishermen, thrifty farmers, or keen traders, 
occupied much of the time in the struggle against the 
North Sea, which threatened to burst the dikes and flood 
farms and cities. 

The Trade- Winds. The Portuguese and the Spaniards 
had a great advantage in living nearer the natural starting- 
point for such voyages. To go to Asia ships went by 
way of the Cape of Good Hope. To go to America a 
southern route was taken, for in the North Atlantic the 
prevailing winds are from the southwest, while south of 
Spain the trade-winds blow towards the southwest, mak- 
ing it easy to sail to America. To take the northern 
route, which was the natural one for French and English 
sailors, would be to battle against head winds and heavy 
seas. 

204 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 



205 



The Spaniards and the Portuguese divide the World. 
The Spaniards and the Portuguese believed that their 
discoveries gave them the right to all new lands which 
should be found and to all trade by sea with the Golden 
East. Two years after the first 
voyage of Columbus the Spaniards 
agreed with the Portuguese that 
a line running 370 leagues west 
of the Cape Verde Islands should 
separate the regions claimed by 
each. The Spaniards were to hold 
all lands discovered west of that 
line, and the Portuguese all east 
of it. This left Brazil within the 
region claimed by the Portuguese. 
The rest of North and South 
America lay within the Spanish 
claims. It is the future history of 
this region that especially interests 
us as students of American history. 

The Main Question. Were 
the Spaniards to keep what they 
claimed and continue to outstrip 
their northern rivals? The answer 
to this question is found in the history of Europe 
during the sixteenth century. Unfortunately for the 
Spaniards they were drawn into quarrels in Europe 
which cost them many men and much money. The con- 
sequence was that they were unable to make full use of 
their discoveries, even if they had known how. Before 




Cabot Memorial Tower 

Erected at Bristol, England, 
in memory of the first sailor 
from England to visit America 



206 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

the century was ended their rivals, the EngUsh and the 
French, were stronger than they; and the Dutch, their 
own subjects, had rebelled against them. 

The English and the French desire a Share. Men 
had such great ideas of the immense wealth of the 
Indies that the successes of one nation made the other 
nations eager for some part of the spoil. Englishmen 
and Frenchmen were not likely to allow the Portuguese 
to take all they could find by sailing eastward around 
the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spaniards to keep 
whatever they discovered by sailing directly westward 
or by following the route marked out by Magellan. 
Both would search for new routes to the East, and 
both would lay claim to lands they saw by the way, 
regardless of any other nation. Many quarrels came 
from this rivalry, but quarrels arose also from other 
causes. 

King Charles and King Francis. About the time 
Cortes conquered Mexico, his master. King Charles of 
Spain, began a war against Francis, the king of France. 
As long as these two kings hved they were either fight- 
ing or preparing to fight. Had Charles been king of 
Spain only, there might have been no trouble, but he 
ruled lands in Italy and claimed others which the French 
king ruled. He also ruled all the region north of France 
which is now Belgium and Holland, and he owned a dis- 
trict which forms part of eastern France near Switzer- 
land. As he was the German emperor besides, the 
French king thought him too dangerous to be left in 
peace. These wars have httle to do with American 



I 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 



207 



history, except that they helped to weaken the king of 
Spain and to prevent the Spaniards from making the 
most of their early successes in colonizing. 

Religion a Cause of Strife. Religion was the most 
serious cause of quarrel in the sixteenth century, and the 
king of Spain was the prince most injured by the struggle. 
At the time of Prince Henry of 
Portugal and of Columbus all 
peoples in western Europe wor- 
shiped in the same manner, 
taught their children the same 
beliefs, and in rehgious matters 
they all obeyed the pope. But 
by 1521 this had changed. The 
troubles began in Germany when 
Charles V was emperor. Before 
they were over Philip II, son 
of Charles, lost control of the 
Dutch, who rebelled and founded 
a republic of their own. The English finally became 
the principal enemies of Spain. The French, most of 
whom were of the same religion as the Spaniards, came 
to hate Spanish methods of defending religion, especially 
after the Spaniards had massacred a band of French 
settlers in America. 

The ** Reformers." Many men became discontented 
at the way the Church was managed. At first all were 
agreed that the evils of which they complained could 
be removed if priests, bishops, and pope worked to- 
gether to that end. After a while some teachers in 




Emperor Charles V 



208 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

different countries not only complained of evils, but 
refused to believe as the Church had taught and as 
most people still believed. They did not mean to divide 
the Christian Church into several churches, but they 
thought they understood the words of the Bible better 
than the teachers. of the Church. 

Heretics. Those who continued to believe as the 
Church taught declared that the new teachers and their 
followers should be punished as evil-doers. They called 
such persons heretics, and thought they would do more 
harm than ordinary criminals. The princes who were 
faithful to the Church ordered that those who were 
convicted of heresy should be punished with death. 

The Reformation. Other princes accepted the views 
of the '^Reformers." In Germany they were called 
^'Protestants," because they protested against the efforts 
of the Emperor Charles and his advisers to stop the spread 
of the new religion. This name was afterwards given 
to all who refused to remain in the older Church, subject 
to the bishops and the pope. 

Catholic and Protestant Leaders. The most famous 
leaders of the Roman Catholics at this time were Igna- 
tius Loyola, a Spaniard, Reginald Pole, an Englishman, 
and Carlo Borromeo, an Italian. Loyola had been a 
soldier in his youth, but while recovering from a seri- 
ous wound, resolved to be a missionary. With several 
other young men of the same purpose he founded the 
Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Order. Of the Protes- 
tants the greatest leaders were Martin Luther, a German, 
and John Calvin, a Frenchman. Luther was a professor 



I 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 209 

in the university at Wittenberg in Saxony, which was 
ruled by the Elector Frederick the Wise. Calvin had 
lived as a student in Paris, but when King Francis 
resolved to allow no Protestants in his kingdom, Calvin 
was obliged to leave the country. He settled in the 
Swiss city of Geneva. 

The Lutheran Church. Luther's teachings were ac- 
cepted by many Germans, especially in northern Ger- 
many. He translated the Bible into German. After 
a while his followers formed a Church of their own which 
was called Lutheran. It differed from the Roman 
Cathohc Church in the way it was governed as well as 
in what it taught. 

The French Huguenots. Calvin lived in Geneva, but 
most of those who accepted his teachings continued to 
live in France. The nickname Huguenots, or confeder- 
ates, was given to them. They were not permitted by 
the French king to worship as Calvin taught, but by 
1562 so many nobles had joined them that it was no 
longer possible to treat them as criminals. They were 
permitted to hold their meetings outside the walled 
towns. The leader whom they most honored was Admiral 
Gaspard de Coligny. Both he and they, as we shall see, 
soon had reason to fear and hate the Spaniards. But we 
must first understand the difficulties which the king of 
Spain had in dealing with his Dutch subjects. 

The King of Spain and the Netherlands. Philip II in- 
herited from his father Charles seventeen duchies, counties, 
and other districts north of France in what is now Belgium 
and Holland. Charles had known how to manage these 



210 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



people, because he was brought up among them. The 
task of managing them was not easy. Each district or 
city had its own special rights and its people demanded 
that these should be respected by the ruling prince. 
Charles had remembered this, but Philip wished to rule 



, .L^aS^ fHfx-^ 



•^^^^m,i> t -^^fe-^^^t^i^ 




The Dikes along the Yssel in the Netherlands 



the Netherlander s, as these people were called, just as 
he ruled the people of Spain. 

Protestants in the Netherlands. The matter was made 
worse by the effort of Philip to carry out his father's 
commands about the punishment of heretics. Any one 
who had books written by Luther or Calvin or their 
followers was punished with death. Those who were 
arrested for such offenses were burned at the stake un- 
less they said they were sorry for what they had done. 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 



211 



Saying this would not save them, however, for the men 
were condemned to have their heads cut off and the 
women were buried aUve. After a while most of the 
Lutherans were driven out of the country, but the Cal- 
vinists kept coming in over the border from France. 

The Netherlands. The Netherlands, or Low Countries, 
are well named, especially the northern part where the 
Dutch live, because 
much of the land is 
below the level of 
the sea at high tide, 
and some of it at 
low tide. For sev- 
eral hundred years 
the Dutch built 
dikes to keep back 
the sea, or pumped 
it out where it flowed 
in and covered the 
lower lands. Occa- 
sionally great storms 
broke through the 
dikes and caused the 
Dutch months or 
years of labor. A 
people so brave and 
industrious were not likely to submit to the will of 
Philip II. The chances that they would rebel were 
increased by the spread of the new religious views, 
which the Dutch accepted more readily than their neigh- 




FRANCE 



Map of the Netherlands 



212 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

bors, the southern Netherlanders. The southern Nether- 
landers who became Calvinists generally emigrated to the 
northern cities, like Amsterdam, where they were safer. 

William of Orange. WiUiam, Prince of Orange, was 
the leader of the Dutch against Philip II. He had been 
trusted by Charles, Phihp's father, who had leaned on 
his shoulder at the great ceremony held in Brussels 
when Charles gave up his throne to Philip. William 
was called the ''Silent," because he was careful not to 
tell his plans to any except his nearest friends. When 
Phihp returned to Spain, William was made governor 
or stadtholder of three of the Dutch provinces — Hol- 
land, Zealand, and Utrecht. Philip was angry because 
William and other great nobles in the Netherlands 
opposed his way of dealing with the heretics and of 
ruling the Netherlands. In this both the southern 
Netherlanders and the northern Netherlanders were 
united, although the southern Netherlanders remained 
faithful to the Roman Catholic religion. 

Spain and England. The English at first had no 
reason to quarrel with the king of Spain. They were 
friendly to the Netherlanders, who were his subjects. 
During the Middle Ages they sold great quantities of 
wool to the Netherland cities of Bruges, Brussels, and 
Ghent, and bought fine cloth woven in those towns. The 
friendship of the ruler of the Netherlands seemed neces- 
sary, if this trade was to prosper. It was the trouble 
about religion which finally made the English and the 
Spaniards enemies. 

Henry VIII. During the reign of Henry VIII, King 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 



213 



of England, the king, the parhament, and the clergy 
decided to refuse obedience to the pope. The king 
called himself the head of the Church in England. 
Lutheran views crept into the country as they had 
done into the Netherlands, but King Henry at first dis- 
liked the Luther- 
ans quite as much 
as he grew to dis- 
like the pope. 

The English 
Church. So long 
as Henry lived not 
much change was 
made in the be- 
liefs or the man- 
ner of worship in 
the Church. Dur- 
ing the short reign 
of his son, the 
English Church 
became more like 
the Protestant 
Churches on the Continent, except that in England 
there were still archbishops and bishops, and the govern- 
ment of the Church went on much as before. When 
Henry's daughter Mary was made queen she tried to 
stop these changes and had many Protestants burned at 
the stake, but she died in 1558 and her half-sister, 
Ehzabeth, became queen. 

The English Church and the Catholics. In rehgious 




Queen Elizabeth 



214 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



matters Queen Elizabeth did much as her father and her 
brother had done. All persons were forced to attend the 
rehgious services carried on in the manner ordered in the 
prayer-book. Roman Catholics could not hold any 
government office. They were punished if they tried to 
persuade others to remain faithful to the older Church. 




Costumes at the Time of Elizabeth 

Philip did not like this, but for a time he preferred to be 
on friendly terms with the English. 

Queen Elizabeth. Queen Ehzabeth ruled England for 
forty-five years. The English regard her reign as the 
most glorious in their history. Before it was over they 
proved themselves more than a match for the Spaniards 
on the sea. They also began to seek for routes to the 
East and to attempt settlements in America. Their trade 
was increasing. The Greek and Roman writers were 
studied by Enghsh scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. 



RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 215 

Books and poems and plays were written which were to 
make the EngUsh language the rival of the languages of 
Greece and Rome. This was the time when Shakespeare 
wrote his first plays. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why was it easier to sail toward America from Spain or Portu- 
gal than from England? 

2. What peoples divided the new world between them? Where 
did they draw the line of division? 

3. Why were the kings of France and Spain rivals? Over what 
countries did King Charles rule? 

4. When did religion become a cause of strife? What king was 
chiefly injured by such struggles? 

5. Who were called "reformers?" By what other names were 
they called? 

6. Who were the leaders of the Catholics? of the Protestants? 
Who were the Huguenots? What was their leader's name? 

7. Why did Philip II and his subjects in the Netherlands quarrel? 

8. What was strange about the land in which the Dutch lived? 
Who was the hero of the Dutch? 

9. Why were the English and the Spaniards at first friendly? 
What king of England refused to obey the pope? 

10. Why do Englishmen think Queen Elizabeth a great ruler? 
How did Elizabeth settle the question of religion? 

EXERCISE 

Collect pictures of the Dutch, of their canals, dikes, and towns. 



CHAPTER XIX 
FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 

Cartier. During the reign of Francis I, the French 
made the first serious attempts to find a westward route 
to the Far East and to settle the new lands that seemed 
to lie directly across the pathway. In 1534 Jacques 
Cartier was sent with two ships in search of a strait 
beyond the regions controlled by Spain or Portugal which 
would lead into the Pacific Ocean. Cartier passed 
around the northern side of Newfoundland and into the 
broad expanse of water west of it. This he called the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

Cartier at Montreal. Cartier made a second voyage 
in the following year, exploring the great river which he 
called the St. Lawrence. He went up the river until the 
heights of Mount Royal or Montreal, as he called them, 
appeared on his right hand, and swift rapids in the river 
blocked his way in front. The name Lachine rapids, or 
the China rapids, which was afterwards given to these, 
remains to remind us that Cartier was searching for a 
passage to China. 

The First Winter in Canada. Cartier spent the severe 
winter which followed at the foot of the cliffs which 
mark the site of the modern city of Quebec. The expedi- 
tion returned to France with the coming of spring. 

216 



FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 217 



Attempts to plant a Colony at Quebec. Several years 
later, in 1541, Cartier and others attempted to establish 
a permanent settlement on the St. Lawrence. As it was 
hard to get good colonists to settle in the cold climate so 
far north, the leaders were allowed to ransack the prisons 
for debtors and criminals to make up the necessary num- 




Map Showing Jacques Cartier' s Voyages 

Thus; 1st Voyage —— 2d Voyage Sd Voyage — ♦— ► 

bers. They selected the neighborhood of the cliffs where 
Cartier had wintered in 1535, where Quebec now stands, 
as the most suitable place for their colony. But the 
settlers were ill-fitted for the hardships of a new settle- 
ment in so cold and barren a country. Diseases and the 
hostihty of the Indians completely discouraged them, 
and all gladly returned to France. 

The zeal of the French for American discovery and 



218 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

settlement on the St. Lawrence ceased with Cartier. His 
hope that the St. Lawrence would prove the long-sought 
passage to China had to be given up, but the river which 
he had discovered and so thoroughly explored proved to 
be a great highway into the center of North America. 

Coligny^s Plan for a Huguenot Colony. Nearly thirty 
years later the French Protestant leader, Coligny, formed 
the plan of establishing a colony in America, which would 
be a refuge for the Huguenots if their enemies got the 
upper hand in France. An expedition left France in 
1564, and selected a site for a settlement near the mouth 
of the St. Johns river in Florida. It seemed a good place. 
A fort, called Fort Caroline, was quickly built. But 
the first colonists were not well chosen. They were 
chiefly younger nobles, soldiers unused to labor, or dis- 
contented tradesmen and artisans. There were few 
farmers among them. 

The Misdeeds of the Colonists. They spent their time 
visiting distant Indian tribes in a vain search for gold 
and silver, or plundering Spanish villages and ships in 
the West Indies. No one thought of preparing the 
soil and planting seeds for a food supply. It seemed 
easier to rob neighbors. The provisions which they 
had brought with them gave out. Game and fish 
abounded in the woods and rivers about them, but 
they were without skill in hunting and fishing. Before 
the first year had passed the miserable inhabitants of 
Fort Caroline were reduced to digging roots in the 
forest for food. Starvation and the revenge of angry 
Indians confronted them. 



FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 219 

Relief sent to the Colony. In August, 1565, just as 
the half-starved colonists were preparing to leave the 
country, an expedition with fresh settlers — mostly dis- 
charged soldiers, a few young nobles, and some mechanics 
with their families, three hundred in all — arrived in 




Fort Caroline, the French Settlement in Florida 

From De Bry's Voyages 

the harbor. It brought an abundance of supplies and 
other things needed by a colony in a new country. It 
looked then as though these Frenchmen would suc- 
ceed in their plan and establish a permanent colony 
in America. 

Fort Caroline and the Spaniards. The French had, 
however, settled in Florida. Indeed, it would have been 
difficult to settle in America at any place along the Atlan- 
tic coast without doing so. The Spaniards regarded all 
North America from Mexico to Labrador as lying within 



220 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Florida. The attempt of the French to settle on the 
lands claimed by the king of Spain was sure to bring on 
a war, sooner or later. The conduct of the French at 
Fort Caroline in plundering the Spanish colonies in the 
West Indies made all Spaniards anxious to drive out such 
a nest of robbers and murderers. Besides, the Spaniards 
hated Coligny's followers more than ordinary Frenchmen, 
because they were heretics. 

Menendez. When the king of Spain heard about 
Coligny's settlement at Fort CaroHne he made ready a 
large force to destroy it. Pedro Menendez was placed 
in command. Menendez was one of the fiercest of the 
Spanish captains in those bloody days. Somebody has 
called him an admirable soldier and a matchless liar, 
brave as a mastiff and savage as a wolf. Menendez was 
to do three things — drive the French out, conquer and 
Christianize the Indians, and establish Spanish settle- 
ments in Florida. 

The Defeat of the French Fleet. Menendez with a part 
of his fleet arrived before Fort Caroline just one week 
g^fter the relief expedition which Coligny had sent over 
came into harbor. His ships attacked and scattered those 
of the French. The vessels of the French for the most 
part sought refuge on the high seas. They were too swift 
to be overtaken, but no match for the Spanish in battle. 
Menendez decided to wait for the rest of his ships before 
making another attack on Fort Caroline. Meanwhile 
he sailed southward along the coast for fifty miles till he 
came to an inlet. He called the place St. Augustine. 

St. Augustine founded. The Spaniards landed here 



FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 



221 



and established themselves in a large dwellmg of an 
Indian chief. It was a huge, barn-like structure made 
of the entire trunks of trees, and thatched with palmetto 
leaves. Five hundred negro slaves were set to work 
building entrenchments. Such was the begmnmg of the 
Spanish town of St. Augustine, founded m 156o, and 
the oldest town in the United States. 




St Augustine, Florida, as founded by Menendez 

Pagus Hispanorum as given in Montanus and Og.lby 

French sail to attack St. Augustine. Both sides pre- 
pared for a terrible struggle, the French at For Carolme 
^d the Spaniards in their new quarters at St. Augustme 
The French struck the first blow. A few o the weaker 
Id the sick soldiers were left at Fort Carolme o stand 
guard with the women and children. The mam body 
aboard the ships advanced by sea to attack St. Angus me^ 
but a furious tempest scattered and wrecked the French 
fleet before it arrived. 



222 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Menendez destroys Fort Caroline. Menendez now 
took advantage of the storm to march overland to Fort 
Caroline, wading through swamps and fording streams 
amid a fearful rain and gale. His drenched and hungry 
followers fell like wild beasts upon the few French left 
in the fort. About fifty of the women and children were 
spared to become captives. As many men escaped in the 
forests around the fort, but the greater part were killed. 

Capture of the shipwrecked French. The French 
fleet had been wrecked off the coast of Florida a dozen 
miles south of St. Augustine. A few days later Menendez 
discovered some survivors wandering along the coast, 
half starved, trying to live on the shell-fish they found on 
the beach, and slowly and painfully working their way 
back toward Fort Caroline. The Frenchmen begged 
Menendez to be allowed to remain in the country till 
ships could be sent to take them off, since now there was 
peace between the two nations, whose kings were friends. 
Menendez replied, '^ All CathoHcs I will befriend; but you 
are of the new sect. I hold you as enemies and wage 
deadly war against you; and this I will do with all cruelty." 

Murder of the Captives. Menendez was as good as 
his word. The unhappy Frenchmen were taken prisoners, 
and we will allow Menendez himself to tell us what was 
then done. This is what he told his own king: ^'I had 
their hands tied behind their backs, and themselves put 
to the knife. It appeared to me that, by chastising them, 
God our Lord and your Majesty were served; whereby 
in future this evil sect will leave us more free to plant 
the Gospel in these parts." Ever since the place of the 



FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 223 




De Soto's Route: 
Coronado's Route: 
Cartier's Route: 

The shaded portions 
represent the known re- 
gions; the white, the 
unknown 



North America as known after the Explorations of De Soto, 

CORONADO and CaRTIER 

awful massacre has borne the Spanish name — Matanzas 
— which means ''Slaughters." 

King Philip's Message to Menendez. Other unfortu- 



224 



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 




Scale of Miles 



those he has saved they shall be sent to 



nate French- 
men, taken a 
few days later, 
suffered the 
same fate. 
Nearly three 
hundred ship- 
wrecked cap- 
tives perished 
in this cold- 
blooded man- 
ner. Nor did 
the king of 
Spain think 
Menendez un- 
duly cruel, for 
when he heard 
the story of the 
fate of the 
Frenchmen of 
Fort Caroline 
he sent this 
message to 
Menendez, 
'^Say to him 
that as to those 
he has killed, 
he has done 
well; and as to 
the galleys. '^ 



FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 225 

QUESTIONS 

1. Who was the leader in the first French efforts to explore and 
settle in North America? Find as many reasons as possible why 
France had not tried to settle in America before. What parts of 
the continent did Cartier become interested in? Why was he 
specially interested in St. Lawrence region? 

2. How did Montreal get its name? Why was the name, 
Lachine rapids, given to the rapids above Montreal on the St. 
Lawrence river? 

3. Why did Cartier fail in his attempts to plant a French colony 
in North America? How much had he and his friends accomplished 
for France in North America? 

4. Why did Coligny later wish to establish a colony in America? 
Where did his people try to settle? Find the place on the map on 
page 224. Give several reasons why they soon got into trouble with 
the Spaniards. 

5. What did the king of Spain send Menendez to Florida to do? 
What things did he accomplish? Why do we specially remember 
St. Augustine? Find it on the map, page 224. 

EXERCISES 

L Examine the map of North America in 1541 on page 223. 
What parts of North America were known? What parts were 
unknown? Can you see why the explorers would search each bay 
or inlet or great river? 

2. Find how far into the continent of North America the French 
explored the St. Lawrence river, that is, the distance from New- 
foundland to Montreal by using the scale of miles on a map in one 
of your geographies. 

Important Date : 1565. The founding of St. Augustine. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH TRIUMPH OVER 

SPAIN 

Cruel Treatment of the Netherlanders. Two years 
after the cruel massacre of the Huguenot colony in 
Florida, PhiHp II, the King of Spain, decided to put an 
end to the obstinacy of the Netherlanders, and sent an 
army from Spain commanded by the Duke of Alva, who 
was as pitiless as Menendez. Alva began by seizing promi- 
nent nobles, and he would have arrested the Prince of 
Orange, but he escaped into Germany. A court was set 
up which condemned many persons to death, including 
the greatest nobles of the land. The people nicknamed 
it the Council of Blood. Alva also turned the merchants 
against him by compelling them to pay the '' tenth penny," 
that is, one tenth of the price of the goods every time 
these were either bought or sold. Alva made himself so 
thoroughly hated that even Phihp decided to call him 
back to Spain. 

The Beggars of the Sea. Just then something happened 
which gave Coligny and the Huguenots their chance for 
vengeance. The men who were resisting the king's 
officers in the Netherlands had been nicknamed the 
''Beggars." When they were driven from the cities they 
took to the sea. The ''Beggars of the Sea " sometimes 

226 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 



227 




found a port of refuge in La Rochelle, a Huguenot town 
on the western coast of France, and sometimes they put 
into friendly Enghsh harbors. From these places they 
would sail out and attack Spanish 
vessels. When Queen Ehzabeth 
in 1572 ordered a fleet of these 
''Beggars" to leave, they crossed 
over to their own shores and 
drove the Spanish garrison out 
of Brille. This success encour- 
aged the Dutch and many of 
the southern Netherlanders to 
rise and expel the Spanish sol- 
diers from their towns. 

The French promise Aid. As 
soon as Coligny heard the news 
he urged the French king to send 
an army into the Netherlands and take vengeance not 
only for the massacre at Fort Caroline, but also for all the 
wrongs that he and his father and his grandfather had 
ever received at the hands of the Spaniards. The French 
king agreed and wrote a letter to the Netherlanders 
promising aid. 

Massacre of Huguenots in Paris. The plan was never 
carried out. While Coligny and many other Huguenots 
were in Paris, his enemies attempted to kill him. When 
the attempt failed these enemies, including the king's 
mother, persuaded the king that Cohgny and the Hugue- 
nots were plotting against him, and goaded the king into 
ordering the murder of all the Huguenots in Paris and the 



Gaspard de Coligny 

After the portrait in the Public 
Library, Geneva 



228 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

other cities of France. Thousands of Huguenots per- 
ished. When the Netherlander s heard of what had 
befallen Coligny and his followers, they were crushed 
with grief. Coligny had missed the chance of ven- 
geance. But the Spanish king was soon to have other 
enemies besides the Huguenots who were ready to help 
the Dutch. These new enemies were the English. 

The English drawn into the Conflict. The religious 
troubles in England had been growing more serious. 
Some of the Catholics planned to assassinate Elizabeth 
in order to bring to the throne a Catholic princess who 
was the next heir. Philip began to encourage these 
plotters, especially after the pope in 1570 had excommuni- 
cated Ehzabeth and forbidden her subjects to obey her 
as queen. She was sure to be dragged into the struggle 
in the Netherlands sooner or later. We have seen that 
she had once sheltered the ''Beggars of the Sea." The 
murder of Coligny and his followers frightened the 
English and made many of them anxious to join in the con- 
flict before their friends on the Continent, the French 
Huguenots and the Dutch Calvinists, were utterly 
destroyed. 

Growth of EngUsh Trade. If England should be drawn 
into war, her safety would depend mainly upon her ships. 
Englishmen had always taken to the sea, as was natural 
for men whose shores were washed by the Atlantic, the 
Channel and the North Sea, but they were slow in build- 
ing fleets of ships either for trade or for war. The trade 
of the country with other peoples in the Middle Ages was 
carried on mostly by foreigners. Yet since the days of 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 



229 



Elizabeth's father and grandfather a change had taken 
place. English merchants found their way to all markets. 
They also made new things to sell. Refugees driven by 
the religious troubles from France and the Netherlands 
brought their skill to England and taught the English 
how to weave fine woolens and silks. 

The new English Navy. The English navy was grow- 
ing. One of the new ships, The Triumph, carried 450 
seamen, 50 gunners, and 200 soldiers. Besides harque- 
buses for the soldiers, there were many kinds of cannon 
with strange names, such as culverins, falconets, sakers, 
serpentines, and rabinets. 
Four of the cannon were 
large enough to shoot a 
cannon-ball eight inches 
in diameter. But it was 
on the skill and courage of 
her men rather than upon 
the size of her ships that 
England relied for victory. 

Sir Francis Drake. One 
of these men was Francis 
Drake. He was son of a 
chaplain in the navy and 
as a boy played in the 
rigging of the great ships-of-war, as other boys play 
in the streets. In time young Drake was apprenticed 
to the skipper of a small trading vessel. Fortune 
smiled on the lad early in life. His master died, and 
out of love for the apprentice who had served him so 




Sir Francis Drake 

After the painting at Buckland Abbey, 
England 



230 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

well, left him the vessel. Francis Drake became thus 
a shipmaster on his own account, and in time the most 
popular of Queen Elizabeth's sea-captains. 

Slave-Traders. He often went with his cousin, John 
Hawkins, on voyages to Africa. They bought negro 
slaves from slave-traders along the coast, or kidnaped 
negroes whom they found, and carried them to the Spanish 
planters of the West Indies. Hawkins and Drake were 
as devout and humane as other men of their time. They 
simply could not see any wrong in enslaving the heathen 
black men in Africa. Besides, they enjoyed the wild life 
of the slave-trader with its dangers and rich rewards. 

Why Drake hated the Spaniards. The king of Spain 
tried to keep the trade in slaves for his own merchants, 
and attempted to prevent the trade of the English slavers 
with the West Indies. Spanish ships-of-war ruined one 
of the voyages from which Hawkins and Drake hoped 
for large profits. The Spaniards won thereby the undying 
hatred of Drake. 

The Dragon of the Seas. It was a time, too, when 
Drake's countrymen at home shared his intense hatred 
of the Spaniard. While England and Spain were not at 
war with one another, English and Spanish traders fought 
whenever they met on the high seas. The English made 
the Spanish settlements in America their special prey. 
At certain times of the year Spanish ships, called govern- 
ment ships, carried to Spain gold and silver — the royal 
share of the products of America. Drake, like many 
another of his countrymen, lay in wait to rob these ships 
of their precious cargoes. He managed to gather a 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 



231 



fortune by his cunning and courage. More than once he 
was forced to bury his treasures in the sand to Hghten 
his ships that they might sail the faster, and escape his 
pursuers. The Spaniards came to know and to fear 
Drake as the Dragon of the Seas. 

Drake's Venture. Drake once formed the plan to 
take a fleet into the Pacific Ocean in order to plunder the 
treasure ships 
where they would 
be less on their 
guard. A fleet of 
five ships was 
made ready. Con- 
tributions from 
wealthy merchants 
and powerful no- 
bles, perhaps a gift 
from Queen Eliza- 
beth herself, gave 
him the means for 
unusual luxuries in the equipment of his fleet. Skilful 
musicians and rich furniture were taken on board 
Drake's own ship, the Pelican, or the Golden Hind as 
he afterwards christened it. The brilliant little fleet 
left Plymouth in 1577. One after another of the ships 
turned back or was destroyed on the long voyage of 
twelve months across the Atlantic and through the 
Strait of Magellan. 

Beyond the Strait of Magellan. The Golden Hind 
alone remained to carry out the original project. As it 




Spanish Tre\sure ,Ship 



232 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

entered the Pacific Ocean a furious storm drove the httle 
vessel southward beyc^nd Cape Horn to the regions where 
the oceans meet. No one before had sailed so far south. 

The first Prizes. Drake regained control of his ship 
when the storm had passed, and sailed northward along 
the coast, plundering and robbing as he went. Once, as 
a land-party was searching along the shore for fresh water, 
it came upon a Spaniard asleep with thirteen bars of 
silver beside him. His nap was disturbed long enough to 
take away his burden. Further on they met another 
Spaniard and an Indian boy driving a train of Peruvian 
sheep laden with eight hundred pounds of silver. The 
Englishmen took their place, and merrily drove the sheep 
to their boats. A treasure ship, nicknamed the Spitfire, 
on the way to Panama, was captured after a long chase of 
nearly eight hundred miles. Drake obtained from it un- 
known quantities of gold and silver. With such a rich 
load, his thoughts turned to the homeward voyage. 

Drake's Voyage around the World. By this time a 
host of Spanish war-ships were on Drake's track. They 
expected to capture him on his return through the Strait 
of Magellan. Drake, now confronted with real danger, 
cunningly outwitted his enemies. He and many other 
Englishmen of his day were sure a passage would be 
found somewhere through North America between the 
Atlantic and the Pacific. Spanish, French, and English 
explorers had all carried on the search for this passage. 
Drake decided to return by such a route, if it were possible. 
He followed the coast of California, and probably passed 
that of Oregon and Washington as far as Vancouver. 



234 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

When it grew colder and the coast turned to the west- 
ward, he gave up the search. 

After making some needed repairs in a small harbor 
a few miles above the modern San Francisco, Drake set 
out boldly across the Pacific to return home, as Magellan's 
men had done before him, by going around the world. 
He touched at the Philippines, visited the Spice Islands, 
and slowly worked his way around the Cape of Good 
Hope. The Golden Hind, long since given up as lost, 
reached England in the fall of 1580, after nearly three 
years' absence. For a second time a ship had sailed 
around the world. Drake was the first Englishman to 
gain the honor. 

Drake's Reward. Queen Elizabeth liked the story 
Drake told of outwitting and plundering Spaniards. 
Arrayed in her most gorgeous robes she visited his ship, 
where a banquet had been prepared. While Drake knelt 
at her feet she made him a knight. And so it was that 
the man whom the Spaniards called with good reason the 
Master Thief of the Seas, the English called by a new 
title. Sir Francis Drake, and praised as the greatest sea- 
captain of the age. His ship, the Golden Hind, was 
ordered to be preserved forever. 

The Dutch Struggle against Spain. A few years after 
Drake returned the English took a deeper interest in the 
struggle between Phihp and the Dutch. Although the 
Dutch had lost hope of help from the French Huguenots, 
they resisted Philip's generals more boldly than ever. 
The Spanish soldiers treated the towns which surren- 
dered so savagely that the other towns decided it was 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 



235 



better to die fighting than to yield The «iege of Ley- 
den became famous because, after food had given out 
and the inhabitants were starving their friends cut the 
great dikes in order that the boats of the Beggars 
of the Sea" loaded 
with provisions 
might be floated up 
to the very walls of 
the city. This unex- 
pected flood also 
drove away the 
Spaniards. Fortu- 
nately after the res- 
cue of the city a 
strong wind arose 
and drove back the 
waves so that the 
dikes could again be 
replaced. 

The Death of 
WiUiam of Orange. 
King Philip had 




Queen Elizabeth making Drake a 
Knight 



come to the conclusion that unless William of Orange 
were killed the Dutch could not be conquered, and so 
:: put a price on Prince WiUiam's head offering a la^g^ 
sum of money to any one who should kill him The first 
attempts failed, but finally in 1584 he was shot. 

Sir Philip Sidney. The murder of WiUiana alarmed 
the EngUsh for Elizabeth's life, especially as Philip had 
already aided men who were plotting against her. She 



236 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

sent an army into the Netherlands to aid the Dutch, 
although she had not made up her mind to attack Philip 
directly. The army did not give much help to the Dutch, 
but it is remembered because a noble English poet, Sir 
Philip Sidney, was mortally wounded in one of the battles. 
The story is told that while Sidney was riding back, tor- 
tured by his wound, he became very thirsty, as wounded 
men always do, and begged for a drink of water. Looking 
up when it was brought to him he saw on the ground a 
common soldier more sorely wounded than he. He 
immediately sent the water to the soldier saying, ''Thy 
necessity is greater than mine." 

The Invincible Armada. The king of Spain now 
decided that he could not subdue the Dutch until he had 
thoroughly punished the English. He even planned to 
put himself upon the English throne, claiming that he 
was the heir of one of the early kings of England. Months 
were spent in preparing a great fleet, an 'Invincible 
Armada" which was to sail up the Channel, take on board 
the Spanish army in the Netherlands, and cross over to 
England. While these preparations were being made 
with Philip's usual care, Sir Francis Drake swooped down 
on Cadiz and burnt so much shipping and destroyed so 
many supplies that the voyage had to be postponed a 
year. This Drake called "singeing the king of Spain's 
beard." 

The Armada in the Channel. It was July, 1588, before 
the "Invincible Armada" appeared off Plymouth in the 
Enghsh Channel. Many of the Spanish ships were larger 
than the English ships, but they were so clumsy that the 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 



237 



English could outsail them and attack them from any 
direction they chose. Moreover, the Spaniards needed 
to fight close at hand in order that the soldiers armed 
with ordinary guns might join in the fray. The English 
kept out of range of these guns and used their heavy 
cannon. 

Destruction of the Armada. With the English ships 




The Spanish Armada in the English Channel 

After an engraving by the Society of Antiquarians following a tapestry in the 
House of Lords 

clinging to the flanks and rear of the Armada, the 
Spaniards moved heavily up the Channel. In the nar- 
rower waters between Dover and Calais the English 
attacked more fiercely, and sank several Spanish vessels. 
Soon the others were fleeing into the North Sea, driven 
by a furious gale. Many sought to reach Spain by sail- 
ing around Scotland and Ireland, and some of these ships 



238 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

were dashed on the rocky shores. Only a third of Phihp's 
proud fleet returned to Spain. 

Effect of the Defeat of the Armada on Spain. This 
was the last attempt Philip made to attack the English, 
because Spain had been exhausted in the effort to collect 
money and supplies for the Invincible Armada. The 
war dragged on for many years, and the English attacked 
and plundered Spanish vessels wherever they found them. 

The Independence of the Dutch. The ruin of the 
Armada also meant that the Dutch would succeed in 
becoming independent of the Spanish king. Seven of 
the northern provinces had already formed a union and 
had begun to call themselves the United Netherlands. 
They were growing richer while their neighboring prov- 
inces on the south, which had decided to return to their 
allegiance to Spain, grew poorer. 

First Voyage of the Dutch to the East. Even while the 
fight was going on the Dutch traded in places where Philip 
had not permitted them to trade while he could control 
them. One of these places was Lisbon, the capital of 
Portugal. Here the Dutch obtained spices which the 
Portuguese brought from the East Indies. But in 1580 
Philip seized Portugal, and the Dutch could no longer go 
to Lisbon. This made them anxious to find their way 
to the East. In 1595 the first fleet set out. This 
voyage was unsuccessful, but other fleets followed, until 
soon the Dutch had almost driven the Portuguese, now 
subjects of the king of Spain, from the Spice Islands. 
Soon also Dutch sailors ventured across the Atlantic to 
the shores of America. 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 239 

QUESTIONS 

1. What country in northern Europe did Spain rule? What 
name was given to those who resisted the Spanish officers in the 
Netherlands? Why were they given this name? 

2. What promise did Coligny make to the people of the Nether- 
lands? Why was he unable to carry it out? What other people 
were ready to help the Dutch? Can you give one reason at least 
why the English were wilhng to help the Dutch against Spain ? 

3. Why had English trade grown important? Did this help to 
make a navy? 

4. Why did English sailors like Drake specially hate the Spaniards? 
What was Drake's method of making a living? How did he come 
to go around the world in 1577-1580? How long was it since 
Magellan made his voyage? 

5. What did the English think of Drake ? What did the Spaniards 
think of him? Why did each people think as it did? 

6. Why did Philip of Spain have William of Orange killed ? Why 
did this make the conquest of the Dutch even harder? 

7. Why did Philip, king of Spain, try to conquer England and 
make himself king of that country ? How did he try to carry out 
his plan ? Why were the English victorious in the great battle with 
the Armada? Where was the battle fought? 

8. How did the defeat of the Armada affect Spain's war in the 
Netherlands? Did all of the Netherlands become independent of 
Spain? 

9. What trade did the Dutch begin to carry on before their war 
with Spain ended? 

10. What new people became rivals of the Spaniards and French 
for trade and settlements in America? 

EXERCISES 

1. What parts of North America did Drake visit on his famous 
voyage around the world? See the map on page 233. 

2. What effect did the quarrels in Europe described in Chapters 
19 and 20 have upon the progress in exploring and settling America? 

3. Find out whether the people of the northern Netherlands and 
the southern Netherlands are still separate countries to-day. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE ENGLISH PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO SETTLE 

AMERICA 

English Interest in America Awakened. Voyages like 
those made by Sir Francis Drake awakened a desire 
throughout England to learn more about the New World. 
Until this time even the great discoveries of Columbus 
and the Cabots had failed to stir the English people to 
take part in the exploration and settlement of the Ameri- 
cas. The principal teason was because their attention was 
occupied by the struggle between their monarchs and the 
popes to decide whether king or pope should govern the 
English Church. This continued until Queen Elizabeth 
had been on the throne some years. 

Other sea-captains, hearing of Drake's success, now 
turned their ships toward the Americas. Many went to 
the West Indies, as he had done, mainly to seize the rich 
plunder to be found on board the ships of Spain bound 
homeward. Some of them explored the coast of North 
America, hoping to find valuable regions that had not 
fallen into the possession of the Spaniards . 

The Northwest Passage. Martin Frobisher made 
three voyages, the last in 1578, in search of a passage 
through North America to China. He entered the bay 
which bears his name, and the strait which was later 

240 



ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 241 
called after Hudson, but failed to find a passage Drake 
attempted to find the western entrance to such a pas- 
sage in 1579 as a short cut homeward when he tned to 
flvoid his Spanish pursuers. 

Onbert A grander scheme was planned by Humphrey 
Gilbert He wished to build up another England across 
the sea just as the people of Spain were buildmg up 
Itther Spain. He planned to do this by estabhshmg 




Charlcote Hall 

An English Manor House of the time of Queen Elizabeth 

farms to which he and others might -nd laborers who 
could not find work at home. Queen Elizabeth hked 
this plan, and to encourage him, and to repay hnn for 
the expense of carrying the emigrants over, she promised 
him the land for six hundred miles on each side of his 

^trfof OUberfs Expedition. Gilbert tried twic. 
to plant a colony in the neighborhood of the Gulf of St 
Lawrence. Sir Walter Raleigh, his half-brother^ was one 
of his captains in the expedition of 1578 He would 
have been in the disastrous second attempt m 1583 had 



242 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

not Queen Elizabeth, full of forebodings of danger to her 
favorite, refused to let him go. As it was he sent a ship 
at his own cost. Gilbert took a large supply of hobby- 
horses and other toys with which to please the savages. 
Mishap, desertion, and shipwreck pursued the luckless 
commander. 

The second expedition left Plymouth with five vessels 
in 1583. The ship that Raleigh sent, the best in the 
fleet, deserted before they were out of sight of England. 
One was left in Newfoundland. The wreck of the largest 
ship, with most of the provisions, off Cape Breton, 
so discouraged the crews that they prevailed upon 
Gilbert to abandon the plan to settle on such barren 
and stormy shores. Gilbert attempted to return on 
the Squirrel, the smaller of the two remaining vessels. 
This was a tiny vessel of scarcely ten tons burden. 
What was left of the httle fleet voyaged homeward 
by the southern way, and ran into a fearful storm as it 
approached the Azores. 

Although Gilbert was urged to go aboard the larger 
vessel, he refused to desert his companions, with whom 
he had passed through so many storms and perils, and 
tried to calm the fears of all by his reply, ''Do not fear. 
Heaven is as near by water as by land." One night 
the Squirrel suddenly sank. All on board were lost. 
Such was the sad ending of the first efforts to establish 
an English colony in North America. 

Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh took up the interesting 
plan which his kinsman, Gilbert, had at heart. Raleigh 
was now at the height of his favor with Queen Elizabeth. 



ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 243 



She had made him wealthy, especially by the gift of 
large estates which she had taken from others. She read- 
ily promised him the same privileges in America which 
she had offered to Gil- 
bert. Raleigh doubtless 
thought that he might 
increase his fortune and 
win glory for himself 
and for his country by 
planting English colonies 
in the New World. No 
man of the age was bet- 
ter fitted for the under- 
taking. He had shown 
himself a fearless soldier 
and an able commander 
in the war against Spain 
in the Netherlands. He 
had fortune, skill, and 
powerful friends. Like 
Gilbert, he was a friend 
of poets and scholars 
and a student of books; like Drake, he was a natural 
leader of men. 

Virginia. Raleigh began in 1584 by sending an expedi- 
tion to explore the coast for a suitable site for a colony. 
His men sailed by way of the Canaries, and came upon 
North America in the neighborhood of Pamlico Sound, 
avoiding the stormy route directly across the Atlantic 
which Gilbert had followed. They found, therefore, 




Sir Walter Raleigh and his Son 



244 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

instead of the bleak shore of Newfoundland and Prince 
Edward Island, the genial climate of North Carolina 
and Virginia. 

They carried home glowing reports of the country. 
They were particularly pleased with an island in Pamlico 
Sound called by the Indians Roanoke Island. They 
noted with wonder the overhanging grape-vines loaded 
with fruit, the fine cedar trees which seemed to them the 
highest and reddest in the world, the great flocks of noisy 
white cranes, and the numberless deer in the forests. The 
Indians appeared gentle and friendly. Elizabeth was so 
pleased with the accounts of the country that she allowed 
it to be called Virginia after herself, the Virgin Queen, 
and made Raleigh a knight. 

The first English Colonists. Raleigh made several 
attempts to plant a colony in Virginia. The most famous 
one was led by John White in 1587. White had visited 
Virginia on an earlier voyage, and painted more than 
seventy pictures of Indian life, representing their dress 
and their manner of living. These may still be seen in 
the British Museum in London. His interest in the 
country and its Indian population made his appointment 
as governor seem a wise choice. Care was taken in the 
selection of colonists in order to secure farmers rather 
than gold-seekers. Twenty-five women and children 
were included in the colony of about one hundred and 
fifty persons. 

Roanoke. White and his followers settled on Roanoke 
Island. They found that the fort, which one of Raleigh's 
officers had built some years earlier, was leveled to the 



ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 245 



ground. Several huts were still standing, but they were 
falling to pieces. The first task was to rebuild the huts 
and move into them from their ships. A baby girl was 
born a few days after the landing, the first child born of 
English parents in 
the New World. 
Her father, Ana- 
nias Dare, was one 
of White's coun- 
cilors ; her mother, 
Eleanor Dare, was 
the daughter of 
Governor White. 
The baby was 
given the name 
Virginia, the name 
of the country 
which was to be 
her home. 

The Colonists in 
Danger. The little 
colony must have foreseen the hostility of the Indians 
and a scarcity of food, for before Governor White had 
been in America two months, he was sent back to 
England to obtain more provisions. White, from his 
own account, did not wish to leave his daughter and 
granddaughter. 

White's Search for Aid. White returned to England 
in the fall of L587 at the wrong moment to ask for aid. 
All England was alarmed by the rumor that a great 




Map of Raleigh's Colonies 



246 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Spanish fleet was about to land an invading army. The 
friends of Virginia in England were too busy protecting 
their own homes from the invader to give heed to the 
needs of the farmer colonists across the sea. White 
traveled through England, seeking aid for his friends and 
family, but was disappointed everywhere. 

Why Raleigh gave no Help. Raleigh had by no means 
forgotten his colonists, but his queen and his country had 
the first claim on him through the long war with Spain. 
Twice during this period, he found time and means to 
prepare relief expeditions for Virginia. The queen 
stopped the first one just as it was ready to sail, because 
all the ships were needed at that moment for service in 
the war. A second expedition was attacked by the 
Spaniards and forced to return. 

The lost Colony. White finally secured passage for 
himself on a fleet going to the West Indies, not with a 
fleet and relief supplies of his own, but as a passenger on 
another man's ship. It was the summer of 1591 when he 
arrived at Roanoke, four years after his departure. The 
colonists were not to be found. Their houses were torn 
down. The chests which they had evidently buried in 
order to hide them from the Indians had been dug up and 
ransacked of everything of value. White's own papers 
which he had left behind were strewn about. His pictures 
and maps were torn and rotten with the rain. His 
armor was almost eaten through with rust. 

One trace of the fate of the settlers was left. The large 
letters CROATOAN were carved on a tree near the 
entrance to the old fort. White recalled the agreement 



ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 247 



made when he left four years before. If the colonists 
should find it necessary to leave Roanoke, they were to 
carve on a tree the name of the place to which they were 
going. If they were in danger or distress when they left, 
they were to carve a 



cross over the name 

of the place. White 

found no cross. The 

word Croatoan was 

the name of a small 

island lying south 

of Cape Hatteras, 

where Indians lived 

who were known to 

be friendly. White 

believed his friends 

to be safe among the 

Indians at Croatoan, 

but he could not go 

farther in search for 

them because the 

captains of the ships 

which brought him 

over refused to delay longer. They gave many excuses, 

but were evidently more eager to attack the Spaniards 

than to find a few luckless emigrants. 

The fate of Raleigh's colony is one of the puzzles of 
history. It is believed that they took refuge with friendly 
Indians, and lived with them until they lost their lives 
in war or had adopted the ways of their protectors. 




An Indian Village in 1589 

After a drawing by John White, now in the British 
Museum 



248 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Value of the Efforts of the English and the French. 

Raleigh had failed to carry out his great plan to plant a 
new England in America, but he had awakened in his 
countrymen an interest in America, and made known the 
advantages of its soil and climate. The French had 
apparently made no greater headway. Cartier's colony 
on the St. Lawrence had broken up, and the Spaniards 
had driven the French colony from Florida. The history 
of Coligny's colony at Fort Caroline, Cartier's at Quebec, 
Gilbert's on the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 
Raleigh's at Roanoke, had shown how useless were 
attempts to settle in America which were not strongly 
supported by friends or by the home government. These 
attempts to plant colonies in America were not, however, 
as bad failures as they appeared. Both nations had 
learned much about the country and about the prepara- 
tions needed for permanent settlements. 

What the Spanish had accomplished. In 1600 Spain 
seemed to have achieved much more than either of her 
rivals. The map of that time shows Spain in possession 
of vast territories in North and South America. The 
Enghsh had a small tract, Virginia, in which they had 
some interest but no colonists. The French regarded 
the St. Lawrence valley as theirs by right of discovery, 
but they could point to no settlements to clinch that 
claim. 

The Spaniards, on the other hand, counted more 
than two hundred cities and towns which they had 
planted in their territories. About two hundred thou- 
sand Spaniards, farmers, miners, traders, soldiers, and 



250 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

nobles, had either migrated from Spain to America or 
had been born there of emigrants since Columbus's 
discovery. Five million Indians had come under their 
rule, and most of them were living as civilized men, and 
called themselves Christians. One hundred and forty 
thousand negro slaves had been carried from Africa to 
the plantations and mines in Spanish America. 

The City of Mexico, the largest in all America, was 
much like the cities of Spain. Well-built houses of wood, 
stone, and mason-work abounded. Churches, monas- 
teries, a university, higher schools for boys and girls, 
four hospitals, of which one was for Indians, and public 
buildings, similar to those in the cities of old Spain, 
already existed. Spanish life and Spanish culture had 
spread over a large area in the New World, and the most 
remarkable fact was that the Old World civilization had 
been bestowed on the Indian population. As Roman 
culture went into Spain and Gaul, so Spanish culture 
went into a New Spain in a new world. 

The Prospects of the Spanish Colonies. But the out- 
look for Spain in America was not wholly bright. Her 
struggle with her Dutch subjects and the war with Eng- 
land, which grew out of that quarrel, left her completely 
worn out. She no longer had the people to spare for 
American settlements. These ceased to grow as they 
once had. Negroes and Indians outnumbered the Span- 
iards in most of them. The three races mingled together 
and intermarried until a new people, the Spanish Ameri- 
can, differing in color and blood from either of the old 
races, was formed. 



ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 251 

The later Story of Colonization. Spain's rivals — the 
Dutch, the English, and the French — were just reaching 
the height of their power. They had settled their most 
serious religious differences. Their merchants were eagerly 
looking about for commercial opportunities. A con- 
siderable population in each of them, but more especially 
in England, was discontented and ready to try its fortunes 
in a new world. . The Spaniards had passed by the best 
parts of North America as worthless. The people and 
the unoccupied land were both ready for the formation of 
colonies on a larger scale. In many ways a greater story 
of American colonization remains to be told. This will 
be the story of the Dutch, the French, and the EngUsh 
colonization of North America. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why had the English people not taken more interest in 
America before Drake's time? What finally made the English sea- 
captains turn to American adventure and exploration? 

2. What did Gilbert attempt to do? How many reasons can you 
find for his failure? 

3. Why was Raleigh specially fitted to begin the task of planting 
English colonies in America? What part of North America did his 
men select for a settlement? Why did it seem a suitable place? 
What name was given to the country? 

4. Why did Raleigh fail to help his colony at Roanoke? What 
did White think had happened to them? Why didn't he go in 
search of them? 

5. Why had the French and the English been unsuccessful in 
their efforts to settle North America? Had they really gained any- 
thing from all their efforts? 

6. What had Spain accomplished since the voyage by Columbus? 
Why were the prospects of Spain not so bright as they had been? 
What rivals were ready to begin colonies in America? 



252 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 



EXERCISES 

1. How much territory was Queen Elizabeth wiUing to give 
Gilbert for his plan in North America? Was there this much 
(twelve hundred miles) of the Atlantic coast of North America 
unclaimed by the French and the Spaniards? 

2. Find Roanoke Island on the map, page 245. 

3. Name the regions in the New World and the East claimed by 
the Enghsh, French, Portuguese, and Spaniards after a century of 
discovery and exploration (1492-1600). See the map, page 249. 
What parts of North America were still unknown? With the use 
of some map of the world to-day make a list of the colonies of the 
same countries now. 

REVIEW 

1. Prepare a list of the men who took the chief part in discover- 
ing the New World, and give for each the name of the region he 
found. 

2. What had the Greeks learned to do, the knowledge of which 
they carried into Italy? What more had the Romans learned to 
do, the knowledge of which they carried into Spain and Gaul and 
Britain? What more had the Spaniards, the French, and the Eng- 
lish learned to do, the knowledge of which they either were already, 
as in the case of Spain, carrying into Spanish America, or, in the 
case of England and France, were prepared to carry into North 
America? 



REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS 

The following references are given in the hope that they will be helpful 
to the teacher. The list is by no means exhaustive, but enough are given 
so that one or more books for each subject should be found in any fairly 
equipped school or public library. Some of these books may be assigned 
to the brighter or more ambitious members of the class for home read- 
ings. Extracts from others may be read to the class directly. Still 
others will furnish the teacher a variety of stories or fuller statements of 
fact upon matters treated briefly in the text. A Bibliography of History 
for Schools and Libraries by Andrews, Gambrill and Tall (Longmans, 
1911), will give many more references and further information regarding 
those that are given here. 

A. ANCIENT TIMES. The Greek People. (For use with chapters 
ii, iii, and iv.) 

(a) Histories of the Greeks. 

Holm, History of the Greeks, 4 volumes, is the most trustworthy 
history of the Greeks. Bury, A History of Greece, 2 volumes; 
Botsford, History of the Ancient. World; Goodspeed, History of 
the Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolfson, Essentials 
in Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, have brief accounts 
of the Greeks. 

(6) Versions of some famous old Greek stories, especially the story of 
Hercules and his Labors, the Search for the Golden Fleece, the 
Trojan War, and the Wanderings of Ulysses. 

A. J. Church, Stories from Homer; C. M. Gayley, Classical 
Myths; H. A. Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; and the same 
author's The Story of the Greeks; Haaren and Poland, Famous 
Men of Greece; C. H. and S. B. Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, 
Heroes and Men; Charles Kingsley, Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales. 
Hawthorne, in Tanglewood Tales, has retold the story of the Search 
for the Golden Fleece in a specially interesting manner. Bryant's 
translation of the Odyssey is one of the best known versions 
of that story and may generally be found in public libraries. 

(c) Short Biographies of some Greek Heroes. Short accounts of the 
lives of such heroes as Miltiades, Themistocles, Socrates, Alexander, 
253 



254 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

and Demosthenes will be found in Cox, Lives of Greek Statesmen; 
Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Greece; Jennie Hall, Men of 
Old Greece; Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes and Men; E. 
M. Tappan, The Story of the Greek People; and Plutarch's Lives. 
There are several abridged editions of the latter, but those by 
C. E. Byles, Greek I-iives from Plutarch, and Edwin Ginn, 
Plutarch's Lives, are best adapted to the iise of schools. 

(d) Various features of Greek Life, as the home, the schools, food, 
clothing, occupations, amusements, or government have been de- 
scribed in the books on Greek Life. 

Among these are Bliimner, Home Life of the Ancient Greeks 
(translated by Alice Zimmern); C. B. Guhck, The Life of the 
Ancient Greeks; Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece; and T. G. 
Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens. 

(e) Descriptions of Athens and Alexandria. Descriptions of these 
great centers of Greek civilization will be found in any history of 
Greece; that in Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks, ch. 2, or Tucker, 
Life in Ancient Athens, for Athens, and in Draper, Intellectual 
Development of Europe, I, pp. 187-204, for Alexandria, will serve 
the purpose. 

(/) A description of the battle of Marathon, abridged from the His- 
tory of the World by Herodotus, will be found in F. M. Fling's 
Source Book of Greek History. This little book gives many 
incidents in Greek History as the Greek writers told them. 

(g) A description of the materials, methods of building, decoration 
of public buildings, and the uses of the temples, theaters, gymnasia, 
and stadia in Fowler and Wheeler's Greek Archaeology, ch. 2; and 
Tarbell's History of Greek Art. 

(/i) Some may wish to read the careful statement in Holm's History 
of the Greeks, Vol. I, pp. 103-121, on the Truth about the Old 
Greek Legends, or the same author's account. Vol. I, pp. 272-295, 
of Emigration to the Colonies in the Olden Day. 

B. ANCIENT TIMES. The Roman People. (For use with chap- 
ters V, vi, vii, viii and ix.) 
(a) Histories of the Romans. 

Either Botsford, History of Rome; Pelham, Outlines of Roman 
History; How and Leigh, History of Rome; or Schuckburgh, 
History of Rome; though the last two do not cover the entire 
period of Roman history. Duruy, History of Rome, 8 volumes, 
is attractive in style and supplied with a great variety of pictures 
and other illustrative matter. 



REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS 255 

Botsford, History of the Ancient World; Goodspeed, History of 
the Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolf son, Essentials 
in Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, give short accounts 
of the chief events in Roman history. 
(6) Versions of famous old Roman stories, especially the wanderings 
of Aeneas, the Story of Romulus and Remus, of the Sabine 
Women, Horatius at the Bridge, and Cincinnatus. 

A. J. Church, Stories from Virgil; C. M. Gayley, Classical 
Myths; H. A. Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; the same 
author's Story of the Romans; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men 
of Rome; and Harding, City of Seven Hills. Macaulay, Lays of 
Ancient Rome, gives the story of Horatius at the Bridge, together 
with several other stories from early Roman history. 

(c) Versions of the Gennan myths about Odin {Wodan), Thor, Freya, 
and Tyr (Tiw). CM. Gayley, Classical Myths; Guerber, Myths of 
Northern Lands; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of the Middle 
Ages; Mary E. Litchfield, The Nine Worlds; H. W. Mabie, Norse 
Stories; Eva March Tappan, European Hero Stories; Alice Zim- 
mern, Gods and Heroes of the North. 

(d) The Story of Hermann (or the struggle between the Romans and 
Germans) is told by Arthur Gilman, Magna Charta Stories, pp. 
139-155; and by Maude B. Button, Little Stories of Germany. 

(e) Short Biographies of some famous Romans. Short accounts of 
the lives of Romulus, the Gracchi, Caesar, Cicero, and Constantine 
are given in Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Rome; Harding, 
The City of Seven Hills; and several of them in Plutarch's Lives. 
A simple account of the Life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian enemy 
of Rome, will also be found in these books. 

(J) Interesting phases of Roman Life : for example, the Roman boy, 
country life in Italy, the Roman house, traveling, amusements, etc. 
See W. W. Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero; H. W. 
Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans; S. B. Platner, To- 
pography and Monuments of Ancient Rome; T. G. Tucker, Life in 
the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul. Many phases of Roman 
life are described in F. M. Crawford's Ave Roma. 

(g) For descriptions of incidents in Roman history and phases of 
Roman life as the Greek and Roman writers told them, see Bots- 
ford, Story of Rome, and Munro, Source Book of Roman History. 

C. THE MIDDLE AGES. (For use with chapters x, xi, xii, and xiii.) 

(a) Histories of the people of Europe in the Middle Ages. G. B.. Adams, 

Growth of the French Nation; U. R. Burke, A History of Spain 



256 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

from the Earliest Times to the Death of Ferdinand the Catholic; J. R. 
Green, Short History of the English people; E. F. Henderson, 
A Short History of Germany ; H. D. Sedgwick, A Short ^History 
of Italy. 
(6) Collection of stories adapted to children of the grades: The Story of 
Beowulf, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the 
Treasure of the Niebelungs, and of Roland. These stories have all 
been written many times, and any librarian can give the reader 
copies of them as told by several writers. The following is a partial 
list only: 

A. J. Church, Heroes and Romances; E. G. Crommelin, Famous 
Legends Adapted for Children; H. A. Guerber, Legends of the 
Middle Ages; Louise Maitland, Heroes of Chivalry; and Eva March 
Tappan, European Hero Stories; James Baldwin, The Story of 
Roland; Frances N. Greene, Legends of King Arthur and His 
Court; Florence Holbrook, Northland Heroes (Beowulf); Sidney 
Lanier, The Boy's King Arthur; Stevens and Allen, King Ai-thur 
Stories from Malory, 
(c) Famous Men of the Middle Ages; for example, Charlemagne, 
King Alfred, Rollo the Viking, William the Conqueror, Frederick 
Barbarossa, Richard the Lion-Hearted, King John, Saint Louis of 
France, Marco Polo, and Gutenberg. 

See A. F. Blaisdell, Stories from English History; Louise Creigh- 
ton. Stories from English History; Maude B. Dutton, Little Stories 
of Germany; H. A. Guerber, The Story of the English; Haaren 
and Poland, Famous Men of the Middle Ages; Harding, The 
Story of the Middle Ages; S. B. Harding and W. F. Harding, The 
Story of England; M. F. Lansing, Barbarian and Noble; A. M. 
Mowry, First Steps in the History of England; L. N. Pitman, Stories 
of Old France; Eva March Tappan, European Hero Stories; H. P. 
Warren, Stories from English History; Bates and Coman, English 
History as told by the Poets. Edward Atherton, The Adventures 
of Marco Polo, the Great Traveler, is a convenient modernized 
version of Polo's own story of his travels. Marco Polo's descrip- 
tion of Japan and Java has been reprinted in Old South Leaflets, 
Vol. II, No. 32. 
{d) Viking Tales. The interesting stories of the Northern discoveries 
and explorations have been told many times. Jennie Hall, Viking 
Tales, includes the story of Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky, and the 
attempt to settle in Vinland (Wineland). 
(e) The Trial of Criminals in the Middle Ages — Ordeals. Other 
kinds of Ordeals than those described in this book will be obtained 



REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS 257 

in Ogg, Source Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 196-202; Pennsylvania 
Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No. 4. pp. 7-16; or in Thatcher 
and McNeal, Source Book, pp. 401-412. See Emerton, Introduc- 
tion to the Middle Ages, pp. 79-81, for excellent explanation of 
mediaeval methods of trial. 

(/) Famous accounts of how the People of England won the Magna Charta. 

Use either Cheyney, Readings in English History, pp. 179-181; 

Kendall, Source Book of English History, pp. 72-78; Robinson, 

Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 231-333; or Ogg, Source 

Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 297-303. 

(g) Simple descriptions of Mediaeval Life. Maude B. Dutton, Little 
Stories of Germany; for example, the chapters on How a Page be- 
came a Knight, and A Mediaeval Town. S. B. Harding, The Story 
of the Middle Ages, especially the chapters describing life in castle, 
life in village, and life in monastery. Eva March Tappan, Euro- 
pean Hero Stories, especially the topic. Life in Middle Ages, p. 
118, the Crusades, p. 136, and Winning the Magna Charta, p. 111. 

D. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN TIMES. The Discovery 
OF America. (For use with chapters xiv to xxi inclusive.) 

(a) Histories of American Discoveries and Explorations. E. G. Bourne, 
Spain in America; Fiske, Discovery of America, 2 volumes; and 
Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World. 

(6) Short, easy biographies of famous explorers. (Da Gama, Columbus, 
Magellan, De Soto, Coronado, Cartier, Drake, and Raleigh.) 

Foote and Skinner, Explorers and Founders of America; W. F. 
Gordy, Stories of American Explorers; W. E. Griffis, The Romance 
of Discovery; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Modern Times; 
Higginson, Young Folks' Book of American Explorers; Jeannette 
B. Hodgdon, A First Course in American History, Book I; W. H. 
Johnson, The World's Discoverers, 2 volumes; Lawyer, The Story 
of Columbus and Magellan; Lummis, The Spanish Pioneers; Mara 
L. Pratt, America's Story for America's Children, Book 2; Gertrude 
V. D. Southworth, Builders of our Country, Book I; Rosa V. 
Winterburn, The Spanish in the Southwest. 

(c) Stories of explorations as told by the explorers themselves. 

Columbus' own account of his discovery of America is in Hart, 
Source Readers in American History, No. 1, pp. 4-7. Early 
accounts of John Cabot's discovery and of Drake's Voyage in Hart, 
Source Readers, No. I, pp. 7-10, 23-25. The Death and Burial of De 
Soto as described by one of his followers, in Hart, Source Readers, pp. 
16-19. The Old South Leaflets, No. 20, Coronado; Nos. 29 and 



258 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 

31, Columbus; No. 31, the Voyages to Vinland; No. 35, Cortes' 
Account of the City of Mexico; No. 36, The Death of De Soto; 
Nos. 37 and 115, the Voyages of the Cabots; No. 89, The Found- 
ing of St. Augustine; No. 92, The First Voyage to Roanoke; No. 102, 
Columbus' Account of Cuba; No. 116, Sir Francis Drake on the 
Coast of California; No. 118, Gilbert's Expedition; No. 119, 
Raleigh's Colony at Roanoke. 
{d) The Stories of Indian Life in Spanish America, of Cortes, Coronado, 
and the Seven Cities of Cibola, and of the Missions. (See Rosa 
V. Winterburn, The Spanish in the Southwest.) 



INDEX 



Acropolis, 18, 20. 

Africa, explored, 142-144. 

Aldine Press, 128. 

Alexander the Great, 7, 37. 

Alexandria, founded, 7, 37, 38; 

end of trade route, 133. 
Alfred, King, 94, 100-102. 
Alps, Hannibal crosses, 51-52. 
Alva, in Netherlands, 226. 
America, discovered by Columbus, 

156; origin of name, 160-162. 
Amphitheatre, at Rome, 74; Aries, 

90. 
Anglo-Saxons, 89, 91-92. 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 101-102. 
Apollo, 32. 
Aqueducts, Roman, 72-73; Aztec, 

170. 
Arabic numerals, 121. 
Arabs, 86, 121-122; see Moham- 
medans. 
Arches, Roman, 74, 76; triumphal, 

77; Gothic, 123; in Renaissance, 

128. 
Architecture, Greek, 18-24, 55; 

Roman, 74-77; early Church, 

76; Mediaeval, 102, 122-125; 

Renaissance, 128-129. 
Aristocracy, origin of, 113. 
Armada (ar-ma'da), expedition of, 

236. 
Arms, Athenian, 13; GalUc, 60; 

Mediaeval, 114-115; Aztec, 171. 
Arthur, King, 100. 



Astrolabe, 137-138. 

Athena, 19. 

Athens, 12, 16, 17, 18, 27-29, 34, 37. 

Augustus, Emperor, 64, 70. 

Azores, 138. 

Aztecs, 170, 173. 

Bahama Islands, 152. 

Balbo'a, 163-164. 

BasiUcas, 76. 

Bayeux tgtpestry (ba-yu), 103. 

Beggars of the Sea, 226, 235. 

Black Sea, 34, 134. 

Bologna (bo-lon'ya). University of, 

120. 
Boniface, 92-93. 
Books, Greek, 25; carried to Italy, 

126; see printing, 127-128. 
Borromeo (bor-ro-m6'o), 208. 
Boxing, Greek, 26. 
Britain, 36, 58, 63-64; name 

changed to England, 86, 89, 91. 
Byzantium (bl-zan'shi-um) , founded, 

7, 34; named Constantinople, 83. 
Cabot, John, voyage to New 

World, 159. 
Cabot, Sebastian, 160. 
Cffisar, Juhus, 61-64, 69-70. 
Calvin, John, 208-209. 
Cambridge, University of, 120. 
Canary Islands, 138, 148. 
Cannae, battle of, 53. 
Canterbury, 92. 
Cape of Good Hope, 143, 144, 168, 

234. 



259 



260 



INDEX 



Cape Horn, 232. 

Caroline, Fort, settlement, 218; 

destroyed, 222. 
Carthaginians, 40, 49-53. 
Cartier, Jacques (kar"tya'), 216-218. 
Castles, 110-114. 
Cathedrals, 102, 123-124. 
Caudine Forks, 42-44. 
Caxton, Wilham, 128. 
Census, Roman, 47. 
Charles V of Germany (Charles I 

of Spain), 166, 180, 206-207, 

208. 
Charybdis (ka-rib'dis), 35. 
China, 137-140, 154-156. 
Christianity, 81-84, 91-93. 
Cibola, see Seven Cities. 
Cincinnatus, 41. 
Clergy, 110-111. 
Cohgny (ko'len'ye"), 218, 227. 
Colonies, Greek, 32-36, 40, 44, 66; 

Roman, 47, 54; Spanish, 177- 

182, 220, 248-250; French, 216- 

224; English, 243-248. 
Colorado, Canyon of, 198. 
Colosseum, 74-75, 90. 
Columbus, Christopher, 38, 117, 

141; discoveries of, 146-158; 

161-164, 168. 
Compass, origin of, 137. 
Constantine, 83. 
Constantinople, founded, 7, 34, 83; 

renamed, 89; educated men of, 

91, 93; taken by Turks, 126, 127. 
Consuls, at Rome, 46. 
Corinth, 17. 

Corinthian pillars, 21-22. 
Coronado, Francisco, 194-203. 
Cortes, Hernando, conquest of 

Mexico, 172-175. 
Courts, Greek, 28-29; English, 

103-105. 



Crusades, 135. 

Cuba, 153-154, 180, 186. 

Cumse, 35. 

Danes, 93-94, 100, 102; see North- 
men, Normans. 

Dare, Virginia, 245. 

Delphi, 32, 34. 

Demosthenes (de-mos'the-nez), 28. 

De Soto, Fernando, 186-193. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 143-144. 

Discus thrower, 24, 26. 

Doric pillars, 21. 

Drake, Sir Francis, adventures in 
America, 229-232; voyage around 
world, 232-234; attack on Spain, 
236. 

Duke, origin of word, 59. 

Dutch, 211-212; war for inde- 
pendence, 226-227, 234-236, 238. 

East, The, defined, 133; search for 
sea routes, 141-142, 146-157. 

Education, Greek, 25-26; Roman, 
45, 56; Mediaeval, 93, 114, 119- 
122. 

Egyptians, 4. 

Ehzabeth, Queen, 213-214, 228, 
231, 241. 

Emigrants, Americans as, 1-3; 
Spanish, 177, 178, 183. 

England, first known, 36; inhabited 
by Britons, 58; conquered by 
Romans, 63-64; name, 86, 89; 
christianized, 91-92; Danes in, 
94; in Middle Ages, 100-108, 
110, 111; aids Dutch, 228; navy, 
229; war with Spain, 236-238. 

English explorations and colonies, 
159, 240-248. 

English language, origin, 8-9, 100, 
118. 

Erasmus, 128. 

Eric the Red, 95-96. 



INDEX 



261 



Espaiiola (es-pan-yo'la), 154, 155, 
156, 180. 

Euclid, 38. 

Fairs, Mediaeval, 132-133. 

Ferdinand, King, 148. 

Florida, origin of name, 185; ex- 
ploration, 186-187; St. Augus- 
tine in, 220-221. 

France, see Gauls, 36, 41; name, 
86, 89; Danes in, 94-95; in 
Middle Ages, 110, 123; sailors 
of, 204; colonies in America, 
216-224. 

Francis I, King, 206. 

French language, 9-10, 118. 

Friar Marcos, 194. 

Friday, origin of name, 60 

Frieze, 20. 

Frobisher, Martin, 240. 

Gama, Vasco da, 144. 

Games, Greek, 26; Roman, 45, 55. 

Gauls, 41-42, 58-64, 89. 

Genoa, 117, 134, 138, 147. 

Germany, language, 8, 118; early, 
58-61, 63-64; name, 86; early 
emigrants from, 87-89; mission- 
aries to, 92-93. 

Gilbert, Humphrey, 241-242. 

Girgenti (jer-jen'te), temple at, 20. 

Gladiators, 55. 

Gothic architecture, 123-124. 

Gothic type, 128. 

Goths, 88-89, 91. 

Government, at Athens, 27-28; 
at Rome, 46-47, 69-70, 108; in 
England, 107-108. 

Gracchi, Tiberius and Caius, 69. 

Great Charter, 105-106. 

Greece, language of, 8-10, 37-38, 
56-57, 89-91, 122-127; early 
history, 11-17; manner of living 
in, 18-29; colonies, 31-38; rivals. 



40; conquered by Rome, 54; and 

the Renaissance, 126-129. 
Greenland, 95-96. 
Gregory, Pope, 91-92. 
Guam, 166. 
Guilds, 116. 
Gutenberg (goo't6n-b6rk), John, 

127, 128. 
Gymnasium, Greek, 23, 26. 
Hannibal, 50-53. 
Hawkins, John, 230. 
Hayti, see Espanola. 
Henry, Prince, the Navigator, 

142. 
Henry II, of England, 103-105. 
Henry VIII, of England, 212- 

213. 
Hercules, 11. 
Hermann, 64. 
Hermes, 24. 
Herod'otus, 31. 
Homer, 25, 57. 
Horatius, 40. 
House of Commons, 108. 
House of Lords, 108. 
Houses, Greek, 18; Roman, 56; 

Aztec, 170; in Cibola, 197; in 

Quivira, 201. 
Huguenots (hu-ge-nots), origin of, 

209; in America, 218-224; and 

Dutch, 227. 
Iceland, 95-96. 
Incas, 176-177. 
India, 37, 144, 153, 167. 
Indians, discovered by Columbus, 

152; origin of name, 153; of 

Mexico, 170-175; of Peru, 176- 

177; as slaves, 154, 178-180; 

missions to, 182-3; and De Soto, 

188-190, 192; in Cibola, 197; 

in Quivira, 201; at Roanoke, 

246-248. 



262 



INDEX 



Indies, 149, 153, 159, 164. 

Ionic pillars, 21. 

Isabella, Queen of Spain, 148. 

Isabella, town in Espanola, 156. 

Italic type, 128. 

Italy, 35, 44-45, 47, 49, 54, 86-87, 
110-111; Greeks in, 35; Romans 
masters of, 44-45, 47; farmers 
in, 54; Goths invade, 89; Medi- 
aeval, 110-111; Renaissance in, 
125-129. 

Japan, 141, 147, 153. 

Jerusalem, 105. 

Jews, 80-82. 

John, King of England, 105-106. 

Jury, origin of, 104-105. 

Justice, Greek, 28; English, 103- 
105. 

Justinian, 77. 

Karlsefni (karl'sef-ne), 96. 

Knights, 114-115. 

Las Ca'sas, 180-182. 

Latin, words, 9, 10; hterature, 56; 
learned by the Gauls, 64; in 
Middle Ages, 93, 101, 118, 119; 
in Renaissance, 126, 127. 

Law, Roman, 45, 46, 77-78; Eng- 
lish, 102-104. 

Leif Ericson, 95-97. 

London, 7, 24. 

Loyola, Ignatius (lo-yo'lii), 208. 

Luther, Martin, 208-209. 

Madei'ra Islands, 138. 

Magellan, 165-168. 

Magellan, Strait of, 166, 232 

Magna Charta, 105-106. 

Marathon, 11-15. 

Marco Polo, 138-140. 

Marseilles (mar-salz'), 7, 36. 

Mary, Queen of England, 213. 

Menendez, Pedro, (ma-nen'dath), 
220-224. 



Mexico, conquest of, 170-175, 178, 

181-183, 193, 195, 202, 250. 
Michel Angelo (mi"kel-an'je-lo), 

129. 
Middle Ages, defined, 5, 86; close, 

125. 
Miltiades (mil-tl'a-dez), 14. 
Missionaries, 88, 91-93, 95. 
Missions, Spanish, 181-183, 250. 
Mississippi River, discovery of, 190. 
Modern Times, defined, 5. 
Mohammedans, 86, 105, 121-122, 

135. 
Moluccas, 133. 
Monasteries, 84, 110-111. 
Mongol Tartars, 138-139. 
Montezuma, King of Aztecs, 172- 

174. 
Montreal, 216. 
Moors, 86, 142, 148. 
Mosaics, 78. 
Naples, 35. 
Navy, English, 102, 229; in battle 

against the Armada, 236-237. 
Netherlands, revolt of, 209-212, 

226-227, 234-236, 238. 
New Testament, Greek, 37; first 

printed, 128. 
Nobles, 110-115. 
Norman architecture, 123. 
Norman Conquest, 102-103. 
Normans, 95, 102. 
Northmen, 60, 93-97. 
Notre Dame (no'tr' dam'), in Paris, 

123. 
Odin, 60.. 

Olympia, 23, 24, 26, 27. 
Olympic games, 26-27. 
Ordeals, 103-104. 
Oxford, University of, 120. 
Pacific Ocean, 163, 166, 232-234. 
Paestum (pes'ttim), 20, 35. 



INDEX 



263 



Paintings, Greek, 25. 

Panama, 163, 175. 

Pan'theon, 75. 

Papyrus (pa-pi 'rus), 25. 

Paris, 7, 24, 120. 

Parliament, English, origin of, 107- 
108. . 

Par'thenon, 19-20, 24. 

Patagonia, 166. 

Patricians, 46. 

Paul, the Apostle, 81. 

Peasants, 110-115. 

Pediment, 20. 

Persia, 11-16, 37. 

Peru, conquest of, 175-177. 

Petrarch (pe'trark), 125-126. 

Pheidippides (fi-dip'e-dez), 12, 15. 

Philip II, 209-212, 226, 238. 

Philippines, 166, 234. 

Phoenicia, 40. 

Pizarro, Francisco (pi-thar'ro), con- 
quest of Peru, 175-177. 

Plata^ans, 12, 14. 

Plato, 27. 

Plebeians, 46, 47. 

Pompeii (pom-pa'ye), 8. 

Pompey, 69. 

Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da la-on'), 
185-186. 

Pope, the Bishop of Rome, 84. 

Porticoes, 23-24. 

Portugal, sailors of, 138, 142-144, 
146, 148, 165; and the New 
World, 205. 

Potato, found by Magellan, 166. 

Pottery, Greek, 13, 25, 27; Aztec, 
170; Zuiii, 198. 

Printing, invented, 127-128. 

Ptolemy (tol'e-mi), 38. 

Pyrrhus (pirTis), 44. 

Quebec, 216-217. 

Quivira, 200-201. 



Raleigh, Sir Walter, 241-248. 

Renaissance (ren"e-sans'), 124-129. 

Richard, the Lionhearted, 105. 

Roads, Roman, 71-72. 

Roanoke, 243-248. 

Roman Empire, size, 66; origin, 70. 

Roman type, 128. 

Romans, language, see Latin; early, 
11; contact with Greeks, 35, 37, 
40; wars in Italy, 41-45; early 
manner of living, 45-47, 55-56; 
war with Carthage, 49-54; con- 
quer Gaul and Britain, 59-66; 
Empire of, 69-70; civihzation of, 
70-78; Christianized, 82-83; 
empire ruined, 86, 88-89; litera- 
ture of, influence, 125-127. 

Romanesque architecture, 123. 

Romulus, 40. 

Salamis, 16. 

Samnites, 43-44. 

San Salvador, 152. 

St. Augustine, 220-221. 

Sardinia, 50. 

Saxons, 101. 

Sculpture, Greek, 24. 

Scylla (sil'a), 35. 

Senators, at Rome, 46, 69. 

Seven Cities of Cibola, 193-198. 

Shakespeare, 215. 

Ships, Greek, 36; early English, 
102; Venetian, 135-136; of Co- 
lumbus, 148-150; of English 
navy, 229. 

Sicily, 35, 40, 49, 54. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 235-236. 

Simon de Montfort, 107. 

Slaves, Greek, 27; Roriian, 45, 46, 
55; Indians as, 178-181; Negroes 
as, 180, 181. 

Slave-trade, Spanish, 181; Enghsh, 
230. 



INDEX 



264 

Socrates (s6k'ra-tez), 28-29 
Spain, early settlements m 36, 40, 
50- Romans capture, b6, t)4, 
name, 86; Arabs in, 121-122, 
148- Columbus and, 146-it)/, 
claim to New World, 20^205; 
colonies of, 154, 156, 177-179 
220-224 248-251; war with 
Netherlands, 226-227, 238; war 
with England, 236-238. 

Spice trade, 133, 135, 147, 168, 234. 

Stadium, 23. 
Statues, Greek, 24, 129. 
Temples, Greek, 19. 
Theater, Greek, 22; early Roman, 
45; later, 56. 

Thebes, 17. ,^-^^r 

Themistocles (the-mis'to-klez) , 16. 
Thermopylae (ther-mop'i-le), 16. 
These'um, 20. 
Thor, 60. 

Thursday, origin of name, 60. 

"Tin Islands," 32,36. 

Towns, in Middle Ages, 116-11/. 

Trade, Mediaeval, 132-135. 

Trade-winds, 204. 

Trebia, battle of, 52-53. 

Trial by battle, 104. 

Tribune, Roman, 47. 



Trireme, 36. 

Troy, 11, 25. 

Turks, 86, 126, 127, 142. 

"Twelve Tables," 45, 46. 

Tyre, 40. 

Ulfilas, 88, 91. 

Ulysses, 11, 25. 

Universities, 120-122. 

Venice, 117, 119, 134-136. 

Venus of Melos, 24. 

Vercinget'orix, 61-63. 

Vespucius, Americus, 161-164. 

Veto, at Rome, 47. 

Vikings, 93-97. 

Vinland, 96-97. 

Virginia, origm of name, 24d ^44, 
colony in, 244-248. 

Watling Island, 152. 

Wednesday, origin of ^ame 60_ 
West Indies, 153-156, 160, 164, 170, 

178, 180, 218, 230. 
White, John, 244-248. 
William the Conqueror, 
WiUiam of Orange, 

235. 
Wodan, 60. 
Women, Roman, 45-46. 

Words, 8-10. 

Writing, art of, 4. 

Xerxes (zurk'zez), 16. 

Zuni, 198. 



102. 
212, 



226, 



JUN 1 1312 



